Forget 2.0 WSJ Is Going Straight To 3.0

Contrary to the impression I may have given readers previously, I don’t hate newspapers (except for the Sunday LA Times, which I loath). However, I do find that I read newspapers less these days. Much less. That’s because I’m online accumulating news throughout the day from hundreds of sources.

While I doubt we’ll see the death of newspapers anytime soon, one thing is clear: newspapers need to evolve in response to the challenges presented by the Internet, and that doesn’t just mean moving more of their news coverage to the web. Print news publications need to change as well.

I’ve been meaning to write a post speculating on what the 21st century newspaper will look like. While I’ve been busy procrastinating the Wall Street Journal is moving ahead with a project they call WSJ 3.0.

WSJ 3.0 is part of a larger effort to unify the Journals print and web publications. It’s such an obvious idea it makes you wonder why every other newspaper isn’t already working on something similar.

While the Journal is currently running dozens of focus groups to determine what WSJ 3.0 will look like, Advertising Age has speculated that the new Journal will include at least the following changes:

• A smaller format.
  A wise choice. Newspapers are just too damn big. Have you ever watched people try to read a full sized newspaper on a subway? Talented readers have mastered the art of newspaper origami, but most readers end up just bopping their fellow commuters in the head.
• An emphasis on what the news means and less reporting on yesterday’s events.
  In other words, more analysis and opinion. They really don’t have much choice on this one. When your readers already know what happened yesterday you need to offer them something else.
• Themed content which will benefit both advertisers and readers.
  I’m really not sure about this one. It sounds good in theory. I’m hoping what they mean by this is that advertising will blend more naturally with content – both visually and contextually.

In general you can expect the print edition of WSJ to become more forward looking. As Publisher L. Gordon Crovitz explains:

“We’re looking at ways to highlight news that is coming up that has not occurred yet to give people some perspective when they hear it that day,”

Meanwhile, WJS will continue to work on its website by expanding to include mobile distribution as well as multi-media content.

If WSJ 3.0 succeeds you can expect many major newspapers to follow suit:

• L. Gordon Crovitz Ushers in Journal 3.0