Newspaper of tomorrow

No need to wait - just pick up a copy of the redesigned WSJ and click onto WSJ.com. Sure, the print edition of the Journal looks dramatically different, what with the narrower pages, added color and more modular layout. But the real difference is in the content - lots of analysis and relatively little spot news. More and more, the breaking news is being found on the Journal's Web site (why do you think it was being offered for free on Tuesday?). Today, stories on December auto sales, the resignation of Home Depot head Bob Nardelli and the death of EarthLink CEO Garry Betty all received lots of play on WSJ.com. In recent weeks, the Journal's Web site, not its print edition, was first to report the news of Tom Cruise being fired from Paramount and Dean Baquet leaving the LAT.

"Business news, in particular, is very sensitive to the time cycle," Bill Grueskin, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Online, told BW's Catherine Holahan. That means tomorrow isn't good enough. In fact, this could be the year that many newspapers start turning their Web sites into 24-hour news machines (and I'm not just talking about national AP feeds that are automatically pulled onto Web sites). From BW Online:

The Wall Street Journal is not the only newspaper stepping up the integration between print and online by differentiating content and adding more blogs and multimedia features. The Washington Post, The New York Times and USA Today publisher Gannett have all announced changes to their Web sites and increased cooperation between print and online staffs. The Washington Post, for example, told Reuters that print editors would play a bigger role in shaping Web coverage.

But the Journal's efforts are among the most extensive. In the '90s, the online edition and the newspaper did not work that closely together, despite being in the same newsroom, says Grueskin. "The Online Journal was right next to Page One. So physically we were very close, but there wasn't much interaction," he said. Now, print reporters regularly will send scoops to online and Dow Jones Newswire reporters, who flesh out breaking news stories, Grueskin says. The print reporters then work on an analysis piece for the paper edition.