The WSJ covers more politics

David Carr of The New York Times writes for Monday’s paper that The Wall Street Journal is spending an increasing amount of news hole in covering politics, not business.

Carr wrote, “The Wall Street Journal, which has historically had a thing for guys in pinstripes rendered in stippled drawings, is taking its makeover very seriously. During a week when the stock market fell more than 4 percent, a recession seemed more likely, and Microsoft was putting the moves on Yahoo, The Journal spent almost all of its front-page real estate above the fold on politics, replete with flashy graphics. Out with Ballmer and Bernanke; in with Obama, Clinton and McCain.

“When Rupert Murdoch closed his deal for The Wall Street Journal at the end of 2007, there was speculation that the paper’s news columns would take on an ideological tilt. Nothing of that sort has occurred, which raises the question of what Mr. Murdoch is going to do with the paper. And the answer after a week of wall-to-wall politics on the front page? You’re looking at it.

“Four years ago, John Kerry effectively captured the Democratic nomination and made a brief appearance on Page 1, but then it was back to the business of business. In January 2008, there were 23 Page 1 stories about politics, up from 14 in 2004, but even those numbers do not fully reflect all the pages and talent that has been poured into political stories throughout the paper.”

Read more here.