Rupert Murdoch's Magazine Disaster
The Wall Street Journal's magazine WSJ. was the glossy linchpin of Rupert Murdoch's plan to grow his beloved newspaper's revenue. But instead of minting money like the New York Times' T, it's shriveling.
Two issues of WSJ. have been distributed with the Journal since the magazine's horrily-timed launch amid the economic meltdown in September. The plan was to go monthly in 2009 but, Women's Wear Daily reports, the publication will instead stay quarterly — lopping off 2/3rds of the planned issues.
Ad pages for the forthcoming March issue, which has LVMH chief Bernard Arnault on the cover, are half what they were for the debut issue.
Murdoch, who plays as defacto editor of the Journal from his perch atop News Corporation, can take little consolation from T's own suffering. Even moreso than the Times' style mag, his upstart comes wrapped in a bitter coating of relentlessly dire economic news.
It has gotten truly painful to scan the Journal's front page. This subscriber often finds himself retreating to escapist television. The wives of financiers are much more easily deterred.
Previously: WSJ. Flailing Before It's Even Launched
Got money to burn? New Wall Street Journal mag is for you
