Media baron Rupert Murdoch has made it clear that he intends to destroy the New York Times. And now, the Times is starting to fight back. Just days after the Gray Lady abandoned its hiring freeze to poach a Wall Street Journal arts reporter who could potentially reveal all of the secrets of the Journal's planned "Times-killing" metro section, the paper of record gives some ink to the pending newspaper war, making it clear there's no love lost on either side.
According to the Times, the Wall Street Journal's planned metro section isn't a way for Murdoch's News Corp. to make more money or increase Journal circulation—it's simply a way to attack the Times. The 12-page section—which will launch April 12 with a daily real estate page and coverage of culture, local business, sports, and government—is reportedly a ploy to steal advertising from some of the "high-end retailers, luxury goods makers and residential real estate companies...that have traditionally preferred The Times." A News Corp. source told the Gray the Lady: "It's not an economic decision." And the metro section is just one part of a planned $30 million overhaul intended to further decimate the Times by attracting more home subscribers and female readers.
So the Times has been striking back with ad campaigns and now a print article reminding readers (and advertisers) that the paper still has 1.7 million weekday readers of its print edition in the New York market, compared to fewer than 800,000 local readers of the Journal's print edition. The Times also points out that the paper of record turned a profit in 2009, while the Journal lost about $80 million last fiscal year. "[W]hen you count our powerful Metro staff along with the reporters assigned to New York culture, sports, real estate, dining and business, we have an overwhelming advantage in talent, experience and space," said Times executive editor Bill Keller, who added that his paper will "be adding new weekend-oriented features to the Thursday and Friday papers." Awwwwwwww snap!
