When you're the Wall Street Journal, you get access

The bigger the media outlet, the more access you’re likely to get to the top executives at the companies you cover. That’s a basic tenet of business journalism that anybody who’s been in the business realize.

So, how about this for access? Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs and Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates have agreed to appear together at The Wall Street Journal’s “D: All Things Digital” conference this year in May and be interviewed by well-known tech product reviewer/reporter Walt Mossberg and tech columnist Kara Swisher.

To be sure, Mossberg and Swisher are two of the heavyweights in covering the tech industry, but their annual D conference also gives them access to CEOs and other executives that many other media outlets can’t match.