Wall Street Journal slashes arts and culture
mainFrom its own pages:
Editor in chief Gerard Baker announced … the paper will feature fewer pages with less space dedicated to coverage of arts, culture and local news.
The restructuring of the print paper will result in the elimination of some positions. The paper has already offered buyouts to all staffers and warned of possible layoffs.
Here’s the relevant part of Baker’s memo to staff:
– Our uniquely engaging lifestyle, arts, culture, entertainment and sports coverage now featured in Personal Journal and Arena will be combined in a section named Life & Arts, and included in the main news section of the paper every day from Monday to Friday. This new part of the A section will also feature the cultural commentary and criticism written by the Editorial Page’s team of critics that currently appears in PJ and Arena. The name Life & Arts not only better captures the range of this combined content but also aligns more closely with the relevant sections in our digital products.
– Greater New York coverage will be reduced in size and will also move into the main section of the paper in the New York region. GNY has added greatly to our appeal in the metropolitan region and our readers appreciate our distinctive coverage but the new approach in print will enable us to produce a more concise, focused daily report on life and business in the New York area.
Who cares?
In Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper, no matter how revered, things like this are hardly a surprise. My surprise is that it took the Murdoch-istas this long. Sorry to see it happen.
A great shame. WSJ is the most intelligent and balanced paper in the USA – a really enjoyable, thoughtful and enjoyable read. And I barely read its financial pages.