The Wall Street Journal’s name is derived from Wall Street, the famous drag in lower Manhattan where the New York Stock Exchange is located. The WSJ is closely associated with conservative business, and, as is typical with the largest corporations, the broadsheet has resisted change as much as possible. It was founded 120 years ago by reporters Charles Drew, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser.

Like the rest of the newspaper industry, the WSJ is dealing with reductions in advertising revenues, declining circulation and higher operating expenses. Advertising inches and total advertising revenue (retail, national and classified) are the primary measurements for newspaper business performance, and these metrics have continued to slide on both a year-over-year basis as well as on a historic basis (last 10 years.) For more on the economic and social factors affecting newspapers, see the article “Tomorrow’s Technology Now? Trends Shaping Tomorrow’s Media Technology Today - Part 2” in the December 2008 edition of The USIM Gazette.

Recent modifications to the WSJ such as including advertising on the front page (2006) both modernize the paper’s design and contribute to the WSJ’s ability to generate more advertising revenues. In June 2009, the WSJ eliminated its advertising coverage. The paper will now publish its advertising column twice a week, rather than running it each weekday in its Marketplace section.

By Darrell Woody

Gazette Staff Writer