Wall Street Journal boss knocks Times, USA Today

Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thompson takes shots at USA Today and the New York Times in trumpeting his newspaper's circulation gain (the only one among top 25). It prompts a couple of thoughts: First is that Rupert Murdock's ideas do seem to work, whether we traditionalists approve or not. The second is that the Wall Street Journal is a different publication under Murdock. I've been reading it the past few weeks and, frankly, am a bit disappointed in that it seems just like other papers -- a measure of its redesign.  The old Journal was distinctive; the new looks like any number of papers, especially the Times. I always thought that the old Journal was the smartest design for its audience since one could grasp just about all issues worth it by reading the two daily briefing column, and could easily find anything else because features and coverage were anchored. In the new Journal, you have to hunt for them. The writing seems pretty much as it used to be, including editorial pages that reflect only one side of any issue and are especially predictable now. But, despite Murdock's promises, it isn't the same old Journal. I wonder what others think of this; after all, I'm an unapologetic traditionalist.

While I'm at it, I call your attention to the comments on the linked blog. Some of them are insightful.