The old guard of editors at The Wall Street Journal would never have thunk it: a daily page of sports coverage in the financial paper of record.
But there is it on page D8, March 3, 2009 -- the Sports page. Not to be subtle about it, the top of the Journal's front page carries a green banner with large white lettering proclaiming "Off the Bench - Sports in The Journal." Beneath the banner, photos of a baseball player, soccer players, tennis star, hoops men, a golfer and hockey players.
(What next, a WSJ photo book?)
In any case, the Journal does not currently plan to do game coverage. Sports Editor Sam Walker tells Reuters plans call for analytical articles and stats and grafs that put a forward-looking spin on the news.
"The expanded sports coverage fits into [Rupert] Murdoch's desire to compete with The New York Times and other media outlets by offering stories to attract a wider base of readers and advertisers even as print advertising declines," writes Reuters' Robert MacMillan.
The lead story on day one belongs to Matthew Futterman and is titled, The Year NBA Teams Quit Early. Tim Marchman, Geoff Foster, Reed Albergotti and Hannah Karp contribute briefs.
Next day lead story is, The Toughest Place to Win in Sports, written by Darren Everson. Briefs by Jonah Keri, Christina Lewis, Tim Marchman and Matthew Futterman.
While Reuters' Mr. MacMillian says the goal is more readers and advertisers, he forgot to mention all the Journal editors and reporters who now will have a credible excuse to attend major sporting events as credentialed members of the media. Beats covering iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes.
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