The Wall Street Journal is an ideal source of financial information not only because of its high standards of reporting but also because almost all the newspaper is dedicated to business, economic and political news. The New York Times, although considered an excellent newspaper, only has about 10 or so pages in its business section and has lower combined print and online distribution within the United States. In other words, even though both papers are considered high quality, the Wall Street Journal is the more complete source of financial information. This article will outline some of the reasons why the Wall Street Journal is an excellent source of financial information.
History, Awards and Circulation:
The WSJ is a widely recognized financial newspaper and has a reputation of quality reporting, up to date financial information, and is a often considered a useful daily source of information by business-persons, accountants, financial specialists and many others. The paper has been in publication for many years and is an institutionally recognized source of financial information. A few of the reasons supporting why the Wall Street Journal is so highly regarded are listed as follows:
*In publication since 1889
*33 Pulitzer prizes
*Over nine hundred thousand online subscribers
*Close to 1 million print subscribers
*2nd most distributed paper within the United States
*Also published in Europe and Asia
Coverage, Reporting and Quality:
In addition to the lengthy history and accolades the WSJ has received over time, the newspaper also has value in its everyday, run of the mill operations. Specifically, the newspaper provides superior news coverage of recent domestic and global events that are influential and reflective of financial, commercial, economical and political developments worldwide. Developments such as these are reported on a daily basis within the journal through some of the following methods:
*Deeper analysis
*Broader scope of business coverage
*Specialized reporting
*More indexes
*Supplementary economic indicators and market data
The Sections of the Wall Street Journal:
The WSJ has three main sections, the headline business, economic and political news in the first section, marketing and media in the second section and money & investing in the third section. Also, additional sections such as ‘personal journal’ and ‘weekend journal’ are also included in the journal at separate times during the week. These sections combined form a heavily weighted financial newspaper that spans a breadth of financial information relevant to investors, advertisers, business leaders, politicians and anyone else with a vested interest in the business World.
Examples of information included in the paper include financial headlines, recent economic developments, major corporate developments, stock listings, bond rates, economic indicators, stock indexes, dividends and sector performance, corporate earnings, foreign exchange rates, and other useful financial information. While the information offered by the New York Times is of high quality, it is not as likely to be able to report the same volume and scope of information as done so by the Wall Street Journal.
Wall Street Journal Surpasses Competitors:
In addition to be a recognized first class financial newspaper, the Wall Street Journal surpasses peer financial papers such as Barrons, and Investors Business Daily with higher distribution and revenue. The paper also has 2550 capable journalists and financial writers contributing to the papers production world wide. The WSJ also has a much wider audience that another leading financial newspaper ‘The Financial Times’ which only as a global circulation of “435,000” and U.S. circulation of “135,000”, a fraction of that of the Wall Street Journal. This, if distribution and revenue are any indicator of quality and demand, then the Wall Street Journal outperforms other papers in both areas making it a leader if not the best financial newspaper around.
To summarize, The Wall Street Journal is a clearly superior source of financial source of information to the New York Times because 1) the New York Times is not a financial newspaper, 2) the Wall Street Journal has wider distribution and 3) the Wall Street Journal is institutionally recognized as a leading financial paper through various credible awards and accolades. The Wall Street Journal also has a long history of financial and business reporting, an outstanding layout, multi-faceted and in depth presentation of pertinent information and a voluminous staff of journalists and financial writers in addition to a wider scope of financial and economic reporting regarding worldwide developments. Thus, in conclusion there really isn’t much question about which paper is the better source of financial information.
Sources:
http://www.dj.com/TheCompany/History/History.htm
http://www.newspapers.com/top10.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/071104/130523.html
http://www.davosnewbies.com/2007/07/24/the-wall-street-journal-versus-the-financial-times/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journal
http://www.trivia-library.com/a/history-of-newspapers-the-wall-street-journal.htm