WSJ aims to get readers anywhere, any time, any place

The Wall Street Journal wants consumers of business news to receive its information via e-mail, print, Blackberry and online, said publisher Gordon Crovitz in a Sunday presentation.

“We are not platform agnostic,” said Crovitz. “We are platform greedy. We want them all day.”

Crovitz discussed the newspaper’s redesign, launched Jan. 2, at the fall Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference, and noted that individual paid subscriptions have risen 5 percent since that time while other newspapers have seen a decline in their subscribers.

“I may be the last person in American with publisher in my title who is optimistic about the future,” said Crovitz.

During his hour-long talk, Crovitz also disclosed:

• The paper is considering “premium” versions of its blogs, as well as making some blogs subscription-based.
• The elimination of six pages of stock listings and other agate from the paper’s Money & Investing section resulted in “a few thousand cancellations.” But Crovitz added, “As an economic matter, that was a great tradeoff.”
• The Journal aims to place the jumps of front-page stories on the following page or all on the same inside page.
• The paper has held 60 focus groups about its redesign, and Crovitz attended 15 of those. “The physical changes [to the newspaper] were the least” of their worries, he said.
• The single-biggest complaint about the paper’s redesign was moving the letters to the second section, which Crovitz said was his fault. The letters have since moved back to the front section.
• The most popular addition with readers has been the summary box on long features that explain why the story is important.

Said Crovitz: “We’re trying to make the newspaper as easy and accessible to get through as Web sites.”