Yes, Virginia, WSJ editors read USA Today

USAT is famous for its trend stories, so it was noteworthy this morning when The Wall Street Journal chose an unusual forum -- its editorial page -- to pick apart one such USAT account about the Gulf Oil spill.

The June 8 story: "Oil spills escalated in this decade." The paper found the number of spills from offshore oil rigs and pipelines in U.S. waters "more than quadrupled this decade, a trend that could have served as a warning for the massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico."

Here's the graph the WSJ didn't like: "From the early 1970s through the '90s, offshore rigs and pipelines averaged about four spills per year of at least 50 barrels, according to the Minerals Management Service (MMS). One barrel is equal to 42 gallons. The average annual total surged to more than 17 from 2000 through 2009. From 2005 through 2009, spills averaged 22 a year."

"That sounds ominous," the Journal opines, "so we decided to check Minerals Management Service spill data and see for ourselves. Here's the rest of the story: While the averages reported by USA Today are correct, the paper failed to mention that the numbers were distorted by some outlier years, in particular 2004 (22 spills), 2005 (49 spills) and 2008 (33 spills). It's no coincidence that those were the years of Hurricanes Ivan (2004), Katrina and Rita (2005) and Gustav and Ike (2008)."

Now, depending on your perspective, the WSJ is providing important context that deflates USAT's trend discovery. Or, the Journal's famously conservative editorial page is once more kissing corporate butt.

[Image: this morning's front page, Newseum]

NWS said in content-sharing talks with Gannett

Regarding a new plan to centralize digital content contracting, the well-known Gannett Blog poster known as "My Boss" says representatives of Gannett, USA Today and News Corp. have been discussing a possible combination of news, advertising and other content operations. News Corp.'s properties include The Wall Street Journal.

I have now confirmed that these talks have, indeed, been underway. I do not know their current status, however. (Updated at 3:58 p.m. ET to reflect my source's belief that these talks cover subjects beyond news content development.) Following are key portions of My Boss' post:

"This is the first step in the eventual News Corp. and Gannett/USA Today paid content agreement. There are some big implications for digital sales for newspapers and USAT. Jack Williams has been meeting with Jon Miller at News Corp. to discuss one delivery mechanism for all local content and for USAT to combine news operations within WSJ and sales within News Corp."

Some context: Any such deal with News Corp. would come amid USA Today's flagging circulation and advertising sales, which have lagged other Gannett newspapers as the U.S. economy struggles to regain its footing after the Great Recession.

Know about a reported USA Today staff meeting on Thursday? 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]

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]

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]

Is the WSJ gunning for a Pulitzer -- in sports?

Here's fresh evidence that The Wall Street Journal under owner Rupert Murdoch (left) is aiming to be a more general-interest national newspaper, elbowing past The New York Times and USA Today.

Check out its full-bore hard-news coverage of the decisions leading to the death of a luge athlete last week. The paper has just broadcast an alert to the following story, now on its website:

Years before a young luge racer from the Republic of Georgia flew to his death at the Olympics last week, officials made a series of decisions designed to make the icy track a commercial success after the Games but that left it faster, and ultimately more dangerous, than any competitive track before.

WSJ expands New York City local news footprint

The push into metropolitan news would involve about a dozen new positions, The New York Times is reporting today. The move is part of The Wall Street Journal’s "effort to create a New York edition, first reported last summer as a project that was focused mostly on increased arts coverage. The edition could begin early next year,'' says the NYT's Richard Perez-Pena.

He notes the expansion is part of CEO Rupert Murdoch's drive to make the WSJ a more general-interest national newspaper -- a push that's pressuring the other national daily, USA Today.