WSJ to overhaul "Heard on the Street" column

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Dow Jones & Co. is expected to announce Monday that The Wall Street Journal‘s well-known “Heard on the Street” column will be revamped.

The column, which for decades has examined stocks that may rise or fall, will begin providing significantly expanded intraday global commentary. “Heard on the Street” will be published first and immediately on several real-time Dow Jones services, and then appear on WSJ.com shortly afterward.

A major “Heard on the Street” column will run in the print editions of the Journal every day, as well as brief pieces from the “Heard on the Street” editorial team.

To produce the expanded “Heard on the Street,” newly hired Thorold Barker will head a team of 15 journalists from both The Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. The staff is global, with 7 U.S.-based, 5 European-based and 3 Asian-based journalists.

This collaborative editorial effort is part of a larger strategy being pursued by Robert Thomson editor-in-chief of Dow Jones, and his editorial team to leverage the journalistic strengths of both The Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.

“The Skeptic,” a Dow Jones Newswires column, which takes a critical, sharp-eyed look at companies in the news throughout the trading day, will be merged into the “Heard on the Street” column.

The “Heard on the Street” column will run on the Dow Jones Financial Wire, the Dow Jones News Service and the Dow Jones Global Markets News, a new service launching Sept. 22.