Yahoo! a player in business journalism?

This morning’s Wall Street Journal had an article about how the popular Web site Yahoo! planned to add some original content to its pages. The original content means that it’s going to hire some personal finance columnists and begin writing about business.

The article can be found here.

I have two reactions to this move. The first is: What took them so long? Many people are using the Yahoo! site for personal and professional reasons. My family, for examples, uses the Yahoo! calendar function to keep track of our schedule. Students in my economics reporting class use the site to track their stock picks for their final project. Adding this content will just keep people at the site longer.

The second reaction is a little bit more ominous. I have long been a believer in the Internet as the next communications revolution in this country. While many still read the newspapers that they grew up with, I can envision a day when Internet companies such as Yahoo! and Google are producing newspaper-like versions on their Web sites. It also would not surprise me if they actually tried to publish a newspaper or some other type of publication as well.

What does this mean for business journalism? I think good things. With more and more financial advice and business coverage available online, a new entrant into the market means more jobs and more competition.