The long-range effects of the WSJ metamorphosis

Louis Hau of Forbes writes Wednesday about the effects of the changes designed to make The Wall Street Journal more of a competitor with the New York Times, including the departure of managing editor Marcus Brauchli.

Hau writes, “Although Brauchli lasted only 11 months in his post, his predecessor, Paul Steiger, had served as managing editor for 16 years. That could prompt some reporters to bolt, but don’t count on seeing a mass exodus. In this difficult media environment, where are they going to go?

“Transforming the Journal into a more general national daily that can compete better with The New York Times doesn’t come without risks. The Journal has long differentiated itself from the competition as the go-to source for authoritative business-news reporting.

“It’s a strategy that has made it the second-largest daily paper in the U.S., with average daily circulation of 2.01 million during the six months ended Sept. 30, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. That was nearly twice as large as the Times, which had average daily circulation of 1.04 million during the same period.

“Expanding that lead by reaching out to a more mainstream readership could pay rich dividends. But as the Journal branches out into more political and general-news reporting, it must do so without short-shrifting its core franchise — top-flight coverage of business news. Taking its eye off the latter could alienate its traditional readership base, which has more options than ever for business and financial news.”

Read more here.