WSJ | Paper slow-mos RNC erotic club coverage

[Picture worth 1,000 words: Voyeur's homepage tells the story]

I watched The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today as the Republican National Committee mini-scandal unfolded yesterday over a nearly $2,000 night at faux bondage club Voyeur in Los Angeles. The WSJ appeared to be the last one to post a story, and their coverage seems anemic -- especially alongside the Post's Dan Eggen. That slow-mo coverage adds fuel to the perception that the Journal's Washington Bureau is now tinged with partisan politics.

But the biggest winner's got to be the club itself: Talk about free publicity!

Related: USA Today's story, and the NYT's

Raising the heat, WSJ now at NYC Starbucks, too

The U.S. flagship joins The New York Times and recent entrant USA Today in selling issues at the coffee chain's 450 stores in New York City, the company announced today. USA Today said earlier this month that it's selling at Starbucks in-store newsstands nationwide, as the NYT has been for years under a once-exclusive agreement among the national dailies.

In a statement, the company says: "This new distribution agreement comes as the Journal prepares to launch its highly anticipated New York section next month, which will capture readers' attention by applying the Journal's unique insight and analysis to a wide range of topics of interest to New Yorkers."

A first? Dow Jones trumpets Greece exclusive

In a statement distributed early this afternoon over PRNewswire, the company brags that on March 18, "Dow Jones Newswires released exclusive news that Greece may seek financial aid from the International Monetary Fund. Following the news the euro quickly tumbled by 0.4% against the U.S. dollar, and assets as varied as the pound, the Australian and Singapore dollars and shares in Japanese exporters all declined with suggestion of a possible jolt to the stability of the entire European Monetary Union and the prospect that the euro zone might not be able to handle its first debt crisis."

The statement continues: "Nearly an hour later, rival news organization Bloomberg, as well as Greek media, picked up the Dow Jones story. Reuters was two hours behind. The Dow Jones story was discussed in a flurry of analysts' research reports in Asia and Europe."

Question: Is this a new tactic, spotlighting hot news stories via press releases?

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

USA Today circulation reveals NYC battleground

[Top 10 USAT "print markets" -- not cities -- for paper sales]

As it wields a new trade campaign in the growing rivalry among the three national dailies, USA Today's marketing kit offers a glimpse at the stakes -- especially in the New York City area. That's where The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are battling for local supremacy, with some observers fearing Journal owner Rupert Murdoch aims to put the NYT out of business.

USA Today's fight is over national advertising and readers, rather than the New York metro alone. Nonetheless, circulation figures show the paper has plenty of readers to peel away there.

USAT's publicly available data doesn't reveal the exact number of New York City area readers. Still, the paper's New York print market -- which extends well north in the state -- is the single-biggest among 25 such regions in copy sales: Nearly 152,000, Monday through Thursday, or about 8% of the total 1.8 million sold nationwide those days. (See, graphic, above.)

USA Today is using trade publications such as Advertising Age to get more advertising buyers to consider the paper. In New York City, the WSJ is aiming for some of the NYT's bread-and-butter: Big display advertisers such as Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdales. The Journal is set to open a New York City bureau next month, staffed with about 36 reporters, editors and other journalists. The paper also is beefing up its sports coverage of New York area professional teams.

How much are USAT ad rates?
Cost of a full-page ad, Monday through Thursday: $119,600 (black and white); $189,400 (color); Friday (when circulation is higher): $146,000 and $231,000.

Total readers, including pass-along: 3.7 million


• Male/female: 70%/30%

• Median age: 49

• College graduate+: 38%

• Professional/managerial: 25%

• Median household income: $74,949

How is USA Today's audience different than yours? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

[Image: today's paper, Newseum]

Mutter: How to value your paper; plus, ABC data

Blogger Alan Mutter explains how the value of Florida's Daytona News-Journal sank by 93% in just four years -- and what that means for your newspaper. Plus, he offers a link to a handy Audit Bureau of Circulations database, where you can look up your paper's most recent circulation figures.

UK's Times, Sunday Times to charge for online

Both titles will launch new websites in early May, the company says in a just-released statement, separating their digital presence for the first time and replacing an existing, combined site, Times Online. The new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers.

Starting in June, the new sites, www.thetimes.co.uk and www.thesundaytimes.co.uk, will be available for a charge of £1 for a day’s access or £2 for a week’s subscription. That's about U.S. $1.50 and $3, at current exchange rates.

"Payment will give customers access to both sites,'' the statement says. "The weekly subscription will also give access to the e-paper and certain new applications. Access to the digital services will be included in the seven-day subscriptions of print customers to The Times and The Sunday Times."

In new campaign, USA Today fires salvos at WSJ

[AdWeek banner tackles famous WSJ feature; see arrow]

Gannett's flagship is now taking on The Wall Street Journal via a series of ads in AdWeek and other trade publications -- and the paper isn't holding back. In a banner ad I saw recently, USAT not-so-subtly takes a dig at one of the WSJ's most famous daily features: "Heard on the Street," a column and related stories closely read by Wall Street investors because its exclusive news often moves stocks.

The ad is part of USA Today's new campaign focused on potential advertisers, one that emphasizes the paper's populist position in the market. The paper's line: USAT's more general readership isn't so taken with inside-baseball accounts of, in this case, the stock market. "What's heard on the street doesn't matter," the ad says. "What they really want is Money."

That, of course, is USA Today's Money section, which emphasizes personal finance, consumer technology and well-known retail brands: the public face of U.S. business.

But the USAT campaign isn't risk-free. In distancing itself from harder-edge coverage like "Heard on the Street," the paper may draw unwanted attention to its reputation in some quarters for being too lightweight. That could backfire among potential advertisers seeking better-educated, more affluent readers. The Gannett paper's ad revenue remains under pressure, so this campaign's success ultimately depends on whether is spurs more sales.

It's no surprise that USAT is gunning for the WSJ. Under new owner Rupert Murdoch, the paper snatched the No. 1 circulation title last year, bolstered by its hundreds of thousands of paid online subscriptions. The Gannett paper is left promoting itself as No. 1 in print, a difficult sell when online is where the action lies.

Now, the Journal is beefing up its sports reporting, too, a key franchise for USAT. This week, The New York Observer reported that the Journal's sports reporters are getting on-the-road credentials to cover New York area pro sports teams like the Mets, aiming for human-interest features beyond game scores, a hallmark of USA Today's well-regarded sports reporting.

USA Today's campaign also comes as another national rival, The New York Times, is similarly engaged in a full-bore trade marketing effort of its own, also targeted at the WSJ.

[Image: today's WSJ, Newseum]

Note to readers| Why I haven't been posting much

I apologize for the infrequent updates. Between a recent business trip, and a flurry of news on one of my more active blogs, I've been swamped. I expect to catch up soon. As always, I appreciate your patience.

WSJ | Signs Tea Party coverage tilts right?

The Wall Street Journal has been described as shifting its Washington coverage toward the right. Against that backdrop, a comparison of Tea Party coverage yesterday, featuring relevant passages; the Journal's coverage lacks reference to the racial and anti-gay invective:

• WSJ: Amid chants of “kill the bill,” Republican congressmen urged the crowd to punish Democrats at the polls in November. “This weekend will, I believe, mark the end of the liberal ascendancy in Washington, D.C.,” said Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.).
• The New York Times: While most of the invective was directed at the health care bill itself, several House members said there was an ugly tone to comments made by some demonstrators against three black lawmakers: Representatives André Carson of Indiana, Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri and John Lewis of Georgia, all Democrats.
• USA Today: House Minority Leader John Boehner, speaking this morning on Meet the Press, said the anti-gay and racial epithets directed at Democratic members of Congress Saturday were "reprehensible."
• The Washington Post: Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said that racial epithets were hurled at them Saturday by angry protesters who had gathered at the Capitol to protest health-care legislation, and one congressman said he was spit upon. The most high-profile openly gay congressman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), was heckled with anti-gay chants.

Dow Jones | Union reaches tentative contract

The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, which represents about 1,700 Dow Jones & Co. workers, says it has struck a tentative, four-year agreement with management that the union is recommending be ratified. "While not the contract that any of us would have written if we could have written it alone, we're convinced this is the best deal we can get with Dow Jones right now,'' negotiators say in a note on the group's website. "Given the generally dismal condition of the news business — and the discouraging pattern of recent contract agreements across the industry — we're convinced this is a deal that must be ratified."

Program note | I'm posting infrequently this week

I'm going to be online, but busy with non-News Corp.
Blog stuff through Sunday. I'll be watching e-mail for breaking news, however.

By the numbers | Sizing up a top advertising rival

[His nickname: "Zuck"]

From today's Wall Street Journal story about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's slow-mo plans to sell shares to the public. The twenty-something owns more than 25% of the giant social media company he started in a Harvard dorm room, the WSJ says. Other numbers:

2

in billions of dollars, possible 2010 revenue

3

board seats Zuckerberg controls

5

number of board members

10

in billions of dollars, Facebook's recent valuation

25

Zuckerberg's age

400

in millions, number of users

1,200

number of employees

2004

year Facebook founded

How many times a week to you visit Facebook? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Dow Jones appoints new top public relations chief

As chief communications officer, the company said in a statement today, Bethany Sherman "will be responsible for all aspects of communications strategy for the global news and business information company, including public relations, media relations and internal communications." Her appointment is effective March 29.

Sherman has been senior vice president for corporate communications for the past eight years at stock exchange Nasdaq OMX Group.

Murdoch confirms April launch of new WSJ section; in speech, he promises NYC edition 'will be feisty'

In remarks that refer to "a certain other New York daily'' -- The New York Times -- CEO Rupert Murdoch for the first time previewed The Wall Street Journal's nascent New York City edition, in a speech today before the Real Estate Board of New York, according to a transcript on Romenesko. He confirmed that it will launch next month, saying:

"I can't tell you all the details. I can tell you that the new section will be full color -- and it will be feisty. It will cover everything that makes New York great: state politics, local politics, business, culture, and sports. Oh yes -- and real estate. Why are we expanding where others are pulling back? Because we take a different view of technology and value. Too many newspaper editors and owners are afraid that technology is harming the value of our product. The truth is just the opposite: technology is putting a premium on content."

Related: Here's the WSJ's story

Animus vs. arrogance, Part 2: Murdoch's envy

We knew that CEO Rupert Murdoch wants to compete hard against The New York Times with his prized Wall Street Journal.

But I didn't realize how fully it stems from a status-driven hatred for the paper and its owners. That fight is presented as the downmarket Australian press baron vs. the imperious, white shoe Sulzberger clan, according to today's New York magazine cover story about Murdoch. The graph that sealed it for me:

"Building the Journal into a general-interest newspaper to take on the Times is a crusade. Arthur Sulzberger himself is, for Murdoch, a symbol of the Times hypocrisy, its smugness, and its shortcomings. Murdoch’s hatred of the Times is a product of his long-standing class antagonisms rooted in his early days as an Australian building an empire in London. But on a more fundamental level, he believes Sulzberger is a poor businessman who has mismanaged his company’s fortunes and deserves to lose."

What's the over/under on whether the Sulzbergers will still control the Times Co. a year from now? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.

Animus vs. arrogance? Murdoch and Sulzberger

[Murdoch, Sulzberger]

From today's much-anticipated New York magazine cover story about CEO Rupert Murdoch:

1. When author Gabriel Sherman asked Arthur Sulzberger about surging competition with The Wall Street Journal, the Times Co. chairman dismissed his question out of hand: "Whatever," he said.

2. After Murdoch read an unflattering June 10, 2007, editorial about his plans to buy the Journal, he sent a note to Sulzberger that concluded "Let the battle begin!"