What you get in the Journal
(April 19, 2005)

Over the years, we have had various clients return from meetings with top executives looking weary because they have been browbeaten.

"This should be in the Journal," one executive said.

"Why was our primary competitor on the front page of the Journal?" another asked.

"Why can't you get me in the Journal?" said another.

The "Journal", of course, is the Wall Street Journal, the five-day-a-week barometer of business. Beginning in September, the Journal will add a Weekend Edition - upping the publication to six times per week.

I recognize the power and influence of the Journal. But executives need to recognize that getting in this particular publication is not necessarily a good thing. As an example, let's look at the first two pages of stories for Friday, April 15.

Page 1 included a piece on how members of Congress are legally taking lavish trips on the tab of corporations and trade groups. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is featured prominently in the lead for a free, but legal, jaunt to the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in Hawaii funded by an airport and airline trade group.

Also on the front page, two staff reporters dissected "the extraordinary battle tearing apart" financial giant Morgan Stanley. Right below the fold, two other reporters disclosed how IBM's quarterly results were casting a pall over the tech sector.

The other major piece on Page 1 focused on an ecological battle between dune-buggy devotees and environmentalists interested in protecting the Peirson's milk-vetch, a spiny shrub native to the deserts of western Arizona.

On Page 2, there were three stories: a trend piece on declining consumer demand despite positive economic developments, a legislative report on a new federal bankruptcy bill that would make it more challenging for consumers to rid themselves of debts, and a report on Southwest Airlines using fuel hedges to manage oil costs and triple its corporate profits.

Seven stories. One with a fairly positive angle.

That's the news business. Controversy and consternation make for more interesting stories than a warm-and-fuzzy overview of a new product launch.

Of course, the Journal occasionally publishes material that may seem like a marketer's fondest dream.

But, in many cases, to get in the Journal is to gain recognition for some kind of trouble.

This may not be what your executive team wants to hear.

But it is reality.

-- Jim Wisuri