The New Wall Street Journal
Since taking over The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch has reconfigured it with an eye to destroying The New York Times – a consummation devoutly to be wished (and, with the help of Carlos Slim, likely to happen even if Murdoch were unwilling to assist). Of course, I live in the hinterlands – in the most extreme sense of the word – and not in New York, and I do not have a full appreciation of what is going on in the day-to-day maneuvers constituting that titantic struggle.
What I can say, however, from my obscure vantage point is that the new Wall Street Journal, which I find outside my door each morning six days a week, is not my father’s Wall Street Journal. It still covers the business news pretty well (though frequently not with the insight provided by The Financial Times, published from London), and its editorial pages are more informative than those of any newspaper in the world. But that was already true in my father’s day.
What is new is the addition of inserts devoted to subjects other than business, the economy, and politics. And, of course, the Journal now published a weekend edition.
Once a month, the weekend edition includes WSJ Magazine. The photography is fabulous; the articles are a high-class version of what can be found in the magazine called People; and, when I find it on my porch, I am embarrassed. Perhaps, I console myself, the lavish advertising included pays for other things.
This week, there was a section entitled Off Duty, dealing, we are told, with cooking, eating, style, fashion, design, decorating, adventure, travel, gear, and gadgets. This, too, I find an embarrassment. I do hope that the minions of Rupert Murdoch did not have me in mind when they designed it (that would be a humiliation). The recipes may be of some value, but I am not interested in royal engagements, Bordeaux wines, cookie news, designer wallpaper, Jaguars, HD projectors, Polaroid cameras, shopping in London, vacationing in the Lake district, and the restaurants of Istanbul (where, frankly, I know as much, if not more than those whose advice was solicited).
When faced with the section entitled Review, however, I cannot help myself. I revel in it. I cannot testify that every article dealing with books, culture, science, commerce, humor, politics, language, technology, art, and ideas knocks my socks off – but, in fact, a fair number of them do. This week, for example, the genius who edits this insert asked spy novelists Alex Berenson, Joseph Finder, and Alex Carr to invent scenarios consequent on the recent release of State Department cables by the friendly folks at Wikileaks. In all three cases, I was immediately taken in, and I longed for more. The commentary on all of this by former Secretary of State George P. Shultz was instructive – as was David Rieff’s discussion of the violent struggle taking place between the government of Mexico and the drug cartels, Paul Davies’ account of the work done by Felisa Wolfe-Simon in producing bacteria based on arsenic rather than phosphate, Matt Ridley’s discussion of Sugata Mitra’s work in designing what he calls self-organized learning envinronments, Christopher Kimball’s review of the letters exchanged between Julia Child and Alvis DeVoto, and Graeme Wood’s review of Nicholas Ostler’s The Last Lingua Franca, to name only a few of the items that appeared. I read, with pleasure, almost every word in the section, and I look forward to its arrival each and every week.
If Rupert Murdoch and his minions were to find a way to introduce some substance into WSJ Magazine, and if they were to reconfigure Off Duty in such a fashion as to eliminate the suspicion that it is written solely for profligate sons of the filthy rich and for bored housewives possessed of a great deal more money than sense, they might achieve for the Journal a commanding position in this country of the sort once held by The New York Times. Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr. has been busy for some time, turning what was once a great newspaper into a partisan rag. Opportunity beckons.
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Jul '10
Re: The New Wall Street Journal
By every measure, the WSJ is the best newspaper in the world. The only drawback is that when I have it delivered, I just cannot resist reading the entire, voluminous thing. Most edifying, to be sure, but not the best use of one's time during the business day.
I tried just scanning the bits that I could justify as essential from a business standpoint and carrying the rest home for later consumption, but that's like trying not to eat the entire bag of Cheez Doodles in one sitting - can't be done.
I have free access (don't ask how) to the online edition, but I must say, it just doesn't have the same seductive power. I doubt any attempt to convert a broadsheet to electronic format ever really could.
Edited on Dec 4, 2010 at 5:21pmAug '10
Re: The New Wall Street Journal
I find the WSJ magazine... awkward... too.
To tell the truth, I'm still not even used to there being colored ink (though how I could've gotten used to no color in the first place, as I was just a child when they started colorizing, is maybe inexplicable). The colored ink on grey paper still looks... dirty to me.
But one decadent bourgeois perk I do enjoy is the wines column, because they so often mention good bargains. Hints on tasty $10 and under or $5 and under bottles (occasionally a $2 bottle has made it) are sure helpful if you're trying to find out what nice wine tastes like on a budget.
Jul '10
Re: The New Wall Street Journal
Midget Faded Rattlesnake:
But one decadent bourgeois perk I do enjoy is the wines column, because they so often mention good bargains. Hints on tasty $10 and under or $5 and under bottles (occasionally a $2 bottle has made it) are sure helpful if you're trying to find out what nice wine tastes like on a budget. · Dec 4 at 5:39pm
You mean you're supposed to taste wine? Who knew? My grandmother used to bark, "Dammit, Kenneth, don't sip it, guzzle it, like a real man!"
Guess that explains all my disappearing uncles.
Edited on Dec 4, 2010 at 6:06pmOct '10
Re: The New Wall Street Journal
The New York Times is heading behind the paywall next year. That should seal its fate, at least as an online newspaper of national influence.
Aug '10
Re: The New Wall Street Journal
James Taranto's daily "Best of the Web Today" is compulsive and compulsory reading.
Nov '10
Re: The New Wall Street Journal
You inspired me. I subscribed on the Nook today.
But, Kenneth, read the whole thing? According to the Nook, today's issue was (in Nook pages) more than 1400 pages.
Jul '10
Re: The New Wall Street Journal
Lucy Pevensie: You inspired me. I subscribed on the Nook today.
But, Kenneth, read the whole thing? According to the Nook, today's issue was (in Nook pages) more than 1400 pages. · Dec 5 at 3:11pm
Everything but the stock charts, yes. I would presume a paper page amounts to about 20 nook pages - half of that being advertisements.