Here is an article from the WSJ Interactive about the Journal of Commerce. They clearly recognize the need to get into full use of the web and I would guess PNLK is going to assist them in making their interactive version of the journal more useful.........
April 16, 1999
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Journal of Commerce Vows
Not to Miss Internet Boat
By WENDY BOUNDS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
NEW YORK -- The Journal of Commerce, the nation's oldest business newspaper, is embarking on the most sweeping overhaul in its 172-year history in a bid to buoy its struggling operations.
This June, the daily broadsheet newspaper devoted to global trade, transportation and insurance will convert to a tabloid format, shrink its space for news coverage about 15% and cut the amount of ink devoted to broad trade topics. The paper will narrow its focus to trade logistics, with most coverage centered on how products get from one place to another.
The paper also plans to boost its circulation by 25% by giving free subscriptions to major importers and exporters who request them. Meanwhile, the paper's Internet site (www.JOC.com) will become the primary vehicle for breaking news, while the redesigned newspaper itself will carry mostly analytical pieces.
The Journal of Commerce is owned by Economist Group of London, which is in turn 50% owned by media conglomerate Pearson PLC of London, publisher of the Financial Times of London. Economist Group purchased the paper and related media properties in 1995 as part of an ambitious plan to expand its U.S. properties, but has struggled to keep the paper on solid and profitable footing as competition increased.
The impending changes, which could be announced as early as Friday or Monday, are designed to fix that. Pressure from other newspapers and Internet services has steadily chipped away at the Journal of Commerce's dominance in the field of transportation, maritime and commodities reporting. Between Sept. 30, 1995, and Sept. 30, 1998, the paper's paid circulation fell almost 11% to 18,290, with newsstand sales accounting for only about 400 copies. Executives at the paper say that number has fallen even further, to about 17,500 at the end of March.
Lower Ad Linage
Meanwhile ad linage has dropped, hurt further as a result of the recent Asian and Brazilian economic problems, and the paper missed its goal to break even in the fiscal year ended in March. But the paper has cut its losses significantly and expects to make a "small profit" for the current fiscal year, officials said.
During the paper's heyday in the '40s and '50s, shippers had no other outlet in which to publish their shipping schedules. But with other electronic means, including the Web, now available, the paper is no longer the must read it was for news or schedules.
"In the days gone by, it was a must to have your ship schedules in the JOC," says Tim Rhein, chief executive of APL, an Oakland, Calif., shipping company that no longer pays to publish its schedules in the newspaper. "But now there are other means available, including the Internet."
One-Stop Shipping Venue
To remain viable in this new era, the Journal of Commerce aims to become a one-stop shipping venue on the Internet, publishing shipping schedules for free and offering breaking news and leaving broader analytical pieces to the newspaper. The paper also is shifting publication of most commodity prices including metals, beef and butter, from the newspaper to its Internet site, to make the information more immediate.
The Journal of Commerce is betting that subscribers will be willing to pay to find such information all in one place. Full access to the site is granted only to subscribers paying $365 for an annual newspaper subscription. Eventually, the paper will sell Internet-only subscriptions.
Meanwhile, it hopes shipping carriers will continue to advertise in the paper to promote their brands and services.
On Monday, Peter Tirschwell, the Journal of Commerce's assistant managing editor, is expected to take the helm of the newspaper, succeeding 63-year-old Don Holt, who is retiring. "I think it took a while for us to figure out where we should aim," Mr. Holt says. "Our first impulse was to expand and do the broader international trade stories. But that time had passed. The thing to do was focus on people in the business of moving things."
Mr. Tirschwell, 37, takes control of the Journal of Commerce just as the shipping industry will undergo some big changes. As of May 1, deregulation takes effect in ocean-container shipping. Currently, when a customer such as Eastman Kodak Co. negotiates a contract to ship product with a carrier, all rates and terms of the contract are filed with the Federal Maritime Commission and are made public, even to rivals such as Tokyo-based Fuji Photo Film Co. But under deregulation, these negotiations and contracts will go behind closed doors, permitting unprecedented wheeling and dealing in the shipping industry.
Mr. Tirschwell expects the changes to make the Journal of Commerce a must read. "Our job is to explain, reveal and inform importing and exporting companies about the way other companies are adapting," he says.
The Journal of Commerce is no stranger to upheaval. The publication was founded by Samuel Morse, the inventor of Morse Code, with an original mission to wage war against sin and the growing burlesque business. It evolved into a business publication. During the Civil War, the paper was temporarily shut down by President Lincoln because the paper published news of troop movements and had denounced the war because it threatened to interrupt cotton trading between England and the U.S.
Battle With Finances
More recently, the paper's biggest battle has been with finances. In February 1998, the division that includes the Journal of Commerce newspaper and other media properties, announced a $7 million restructuring plan that eliminated 65 jobs, or 14% of its 450-member staff. Those moves sparked rumors that the publication might eventually fold altogether -- rumors that company officials have consistently said are untrue.
Included in the latest moves will be layoffs of about 10 employees, about half of which will come from news operations.
Much of the paper's shift onto the Internet is sparked, interestingly, by its own problematic transportation logistics. The paper is printed at one site near Philadelphia and then flown around the country. That requires the newspaper to ship news stories to the printing plant by 2 p.m. Eastern time to get them into the next morning's newspaper -- a major handicap in covering late-breaking news.
Now reporters will be required to file constantly throughout the day to the paper's Internet site. Meanwhile, deadlines for the printed paper will move to noon to aid better on-time delivery.
"The Web and the print product together now form a powerful tandem," says Bill Lavner, vice president of new media for the Journal of Commerce.
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