WSJ cuts entertainment coverage

Jeremy Gerard of Deadline Hollywood looks at The Wall Street Journal‘s decision to cut entertainment coverage.

Gerard writes, “The blade already has fallen at the News Corp.-owned Journal, which announced that its Greater New York section, introduced six years ago to go head-to-head with the Times‘ local coverage, would be folded into the paper’s main section beginning November 14. The shift, along with other consolidations affecting the Journal‘s coverage of entertainment and the arts, comes in the wake of a 12% decline in domestic advertising, according to the paper.

“The Greater New York staff complement of some three dozen reporters, editors and production people have been told to reapply for 16 jobs in the new configuration, including about a dozen reporters. The paper’s Personal Journal and Arena sections, covering lifestyle, art, sports and culture coverage, are also being cut and combined into a new section called Life & Arts, and will be folded into the A section mix. Those aren’t the only sections affected.

“‘A combined Business & Finance section, comprising the current Business & Tech and Money & Investing sections’ will also debut November 14, according to a memo to the staff last week from Journal editor Gerard Baker. ‘I want to stress that these changes and their ramifications for the newsroom are necessary not just because we must adjust to changing conditions in the print advertising business, ‘ he added, ‘but because we know from audience research that readers want a more digestible newspaper.’ Translation: If it doesn’t accord with the goal of serving online subscribers a faster, more concise read, it’s a goner. The new version of the print Journal will feature the two bigger sections on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with a third section on Mondays and Fridays. The weekend edition of the paper will remain unchanged, according to the paper.”