There was a time, and it was as recent as 2004 when I was first learning social media, that THE WALL STREET JOURNAL was a career-breaker and a career-maker.
A negative article or even a quote could have the power of a thunder bolt thrown by Zeus. A positive article or being quoted could be the reason for breaking open the good bottle of wine. Public relations media pros who had "good contacts" at THE JOURNAL were golden. Ghostwriters who penned the opinion-editorials, which actually once had influence, could charge whatever. I know. I ghostwrote three op-eds plus a number of letters. For my own byline I published four.
Now, the business category itself is not hot. Even if THE WALL STREET JOURNAL could have changed fast enough [Change or Die] it would still be a fading entity. In the boom 1990s all those publications like "Red Herring" sprung up. They're not around. Neither is the well-funded PORTFOLIO.
But it didn't change. It's proved to be Rupert Murdoch's folly. At THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, its managing editor Robert Thomson announced that it's curtains for the Boston bureau. Nine reporters, GAWKER's Gabriel Snyder tells us, will lose their jobs. Snyder's get is via FISHBOWL's Amanda Ernst. The memo from Thomson hints that no one at THE WALL STREET JOURNAL should feel, well, secure. Or, that's how I read it.
My reflections: The pub had a very nice run. Murdoch's business judgment is in question. Flexible employees should start putting together a post-newspaper career now.
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