What I learned from visiting The Wall Street Journal might surprise you
If you don’t already know, the Wall Street Journal is a business-focused international daily newspaper based in the Big Apple. The Journal is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp. I was able to get an inside look at The WSJ news floor and speak with the Social/Off-Platform Editor and the Senior Platform Editor last week with my Social Media class. Patrick Hedlund and Charity Scott articulated the ins and outs of using social platforms to build WSJ’s audience, all while holding onto the more traditional readers. I learned some really useful information during my tour of The Wall Street Journal, but there are two major things that stood out to me as a young aspiring journalist in New York City.
- Don’t judge a journal by its audience
The conservatively slanted WSJ typically has — you guessed it, a more conservative audience. And a conservative is something I am not. I pride myself in having liberal views, and in my own pre-conceived notions, I kinda wrote WSJ off of my reading list. But once I entered the building my opinions began to change. I was so pleasantly surprised to see a ton of women and people of color working on the news floor. Not only this but upon speaking with Charity Scott, she informed us she was named the newsroom’s first participant in the Trust Fellowship program. She explained that her new role would address The WSJ’s accountability in research, reporting, story editing, images, and measurable project work that is diverse and inclusive of a broader audience. And although I think this role could have been implemented much earlier in the game, it’s better late than never.
2. Millennials wanted
It’s not much of a secret that the Internet has changed virtually everyone’s lives over the past decade. But what few expected was the downfall of print journalism. We see more and more articles being published to websites or social media platforms and get this- the same Baby Boomers and Gen X writing for print aren’t so great at writing for Instagram..shocker. Patrick Hedlund of the WSJ commended Millennials and Gen Z on their natural ability to use social media platforms. He made a comment about how someday he might be working for us, and I left the tour of WSJ feeling like my social media skills could potentially land me a job there someday.
After my visit, I have found that my opinion on the Wall Street Journal has changed rather significantly. I left with some great insight into the beating heart of the WSJ and I met some excellent journalists striving for the same ideals that I am. They may have just earned a new subscriber.
