Telephone interview with Alan Murray, Deputy managing editor and executive editor, online for The Wall Street Journal. This is transcribed from a telephone interview between Alan and I, so don’t kill me if I flubbed a word. Some answers are paraphrased.
First, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I will disclose to you and my readers that I am a print and online subscriber to The Wall Street Journal and some years ago I worked there as a press operator in South Brunswick New Jersey.
META: Alan, after my review of the new website for WSJ.com I was left wanting a little more information regarding the specifics of the new website. Metaprinter’s readers also are interested in some site specifics so I hope this phone interview answers those questions.
META: How long has it been since the site was redesigned?
ALAN: The site was built in 1996 with the intention of being a news service for our paid print-newspaper subscribers. The site underwent a slight redesign in 2002 but until yesterday remained relatively unchanged throughout that time.
META: What prompted you to launch a new site?
ALAN: As I just mentioned, the site was not meant to do what it was trying to do as of late. The new site was designed and implemented to be a news website for subscribers, the general public, (and, Metaprinter assumes, advertisers). In the last one and a half years alone our website traffic has more than doubled. We wanted to better serve that audience.
META: Who did the site design and development? Was it in-house?
ALAN: Early on our in house team worked with Avenue A/ Razorfish for design and other things. Later we worked with Sapient to build and launch the site. Our in house team was involved throughout the entire process.
META: What was the biggest technical departure from the old site?
I didn’t ask this question but id say it’s the emphasis on community and interaction with their readers. The old site didn’t have many opportunities for dialogue.
META: WSJ is in a unique position where many of its paid subscribers come from Wall Street financial institutions. As those institutions collapse and cut back, do you see it impacting your paid subscriber revenue model?
ALAN: Large financial institutions represent a very small portion of our million plus subscribers. Most of our subscribers are small to medium size business owners, CEO’s, CFO’s and individuals interested in business finance.
META: As the only large newspaper with a paid online subscriber model, do you have any plans to go to an advertising based model?
ALAN: many of our offerings are already free to the public and advertiser supported. Sections like politics, and features like our videos and blogs. In the next few months we plan to open up our new community feature to non-subscribers however they will be required to login with their real names.
META: Linked in has a similar model no?
ALAN: Having a community with people interacting is nothing new. We want to test the notion that our unique subscriber base will build a community for intelligent, high-profile discourse.
META: Thank you, any final comments?
ALAN: Our new site is not the end of the line. It is a launch pad for new applications and innovation. It marks the beginning of a period of rapid innovation for WSJ.com. Stay tuned for lots of new developments and thanks for taking notice.
META: Thank you Alan.
End of Interview….
Well readers, Mr. Alan had to catch a plane, but that quick phone interview certainly shed some light on the thinking and planning that goes on when launching a site. Again, this is not a redesign. This is new programming, new applications, a new way of approaching the interaction of between man and machine and the evolving technology behind it.
Change is good
Change is bad
What is the only thing that stays the same?
Change is
Online is the future but does not account for enough of the revenue stream yet to be self sustaining. What did I learn from this interview? Hire kick ass developers, journalists, and editors to differentiate your news site from everyone else. Offer a real value addition to people’s lives. Even better? Do one thing and do it so well that it becomes your brand. News agencies that don’t do this will be swallowed up by other successful site and papers, speeding up the print to online transition.
