HONG KONG, 18 October 2005 — The new tabloid Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal hit the streets yesterday but a media analyst was skeptical whether the new look worked.
The business newspaper started its new era with a front-page story, beneath a headline in conservative small type, about US Treasury Secretary John Snow’s visit to China.
An open letter to readers from editor Reginald Chua said the format, smaller than the former broadsheet, had been adopted for readers’ convenience. “The compact format is designed to make it easier to navigate through the paper,” Chua wrote.
An editorial dedicated to the relaunch added that the newspaper, whose European edition will also be reformatted, had been designed to complement the Journal’s successful online version.
“The (Internet’s) blitz of information has made it harder for the busy reader to sort the important from the ephemeral, and to decipher meaning from the rush of events,” it said. “This is where we think editors still have a role to play,” it added.
The Asian edition’s sister publication was first published in New York in 1889.
Publisher Dow Jones announced the relaunch in May, sparking production and editorial jobs losses in Asia and Europe while others were moved to the paper’s headquarters in New York.
