Triangulating on the WSJ

We're starting to get indications of where the Wall Street Journal may be going, at least in part. Rupert Murdoch has changed his mind about making everything available on wsj.com for free. You know he had people undertake some significant financial analysis before reversing his decision, which suggests that the ad money that could come in simply doesn't compare with the paid subscriptions, as well as the difficulty that having all those articles for free might cause for the subscription base of the paper. After all, why pay if you don't have to? But that also suggests that papers hoping to make it online through the strength of advertising may face a difficult time.

So, he can't make enough online. But what is happening in print? Expansion of topics. He's convinced that a full page of sports and a new weekend magazine (edited by someone he's bringing over from another of his properties, The Times in London) will add to the value of the paper. It might at that, who knows? Certainly having some heavy non-business weekend coverage hasn't hurt the Financial Times. But before you figure out whether you should be trying to query, also realize that Murdoch has said that he things the front-page stories at the Journal are too long. That makes me wonder whether he'll try to add the coverage from people already in house, or consider freelance help.

In terms of contacting that new weekend magazine editor, look for my post tomorrow about Gorkana.com, an editorial move/update service that seems to have some potentially serious value, all without having to pay.