The Wall Street Journal [1-year subscription]

There is something for everyone in the WSJ. The regular columns on investing, money, work, science and other topics provide information and analysis on those topics. The daily "middle column" article features quirky stories you generally won't find elsewhere. Personal Journal includes arts and entertainment features as well as technology reviews and the Cranky Consumer--a column that tests various merchants and service providers and reports on the best sources for everything from kitchen appliances to buying fine jewelry online to setting up your blog. Special sections cover business and investing, technology and e-commerce, health, retirement and more.

Each newspaper has a political slant to its Op-Ed pages, and the WSJ is more conservative than, say, The New York Times. However, unlike the Times, the editorial slant does not affect the news reporting. The Journal is the newspaper for people who want to be well-informed on many topics.


Still The Best Paper In The USA.   September 7, 2007
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

First: the papers market coverage is the best in the USA. The Regular wrap-up features & the Heard On The Street column give colorful nuances to the information. The amount of information itself can be overwhelming to absorb. From the NYSE, junk bonds, to blue chips, this paper is good for both the casual, or serious investor. For me the often underpublicized & finest part of the paper is the investigations & feature reporting. The Journals reporters seem to have more freedom over their work than their competitors, & this approach pays off. Most times column four of the front page has a story that will disgust the reader, or he/she will laugh out loud. It is odd & a bit sad the WSJ's staff rarely gets their kudos when compared to the Washington Post or NYTimes.

Also, of note: the special sections the paper runs from time to time on technology, e-bussiness, international markets, mutual funds, & education are often exceptional. This is usually the part of the paper I enjoy most, because they come at the story presented from most every angle possible. Now the negatives: the paper should stick to the areas I've just described. The arts & lifestyle coverage is mediocre & is less well done & in depth than say the NYTimes. Only Joe Morgenstern's movie reviews are occasionally worth raeding. Granted, I rarely go to the movies. Lastly, the editorial pages are often the ideological opposite of those which one finds in the Times. I like them, & often agree with their "Milton Friedman" points of view. But, like the Times they give little room for opposing perspectives. Still, it is the nations best newspaper.


America's newspaper   June 20, 2003
 21 out of 25 found this review helpful

The United States has three national newspapers, of which USA Today is tripe, the New York Times is overweight, and the Wall Street Journal is the gold standard (small joke there :). I have read it almost every day for 30 years, for its news and opinion as well as to keep track of my money. Indeed, as the Journal and I get older, I find myself less interested in business news than in the rest of the paper. The most recent addition is the Personal Journal section that appears on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and the Weekend Journal that bulks up the Friday paper. The last, I understand, will eventually grow into a Saturday edition of the WSJ. It's full of good stuff about travel, wine, books, theater, and (of much less interest to me) religion. The editorial page is famously conservative, but that's nicely balanced by the news pages, which are generally moderate and sometimes (in the case of the Washington opinion columns) liberal. Even the op-ed page carries a column by Albert Hunt, who is as comically leftish as the editorials are sometimes comically rightish. Altogether, this is the newspaper for the intelligent American, wherever he or she may live, and whatever his or her politics. -- Dan Ford


Price review   December 8, 2006
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

The journal is great. All the reviews state that. We don't need another redundant review.

But.

On the Wall Street Journal site, you can order a subscription for less than half the cost of the $215 Amazon charges.

Merry Xmas.


must be known to be loved   October 12, 2006
 9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Question: Is there a better American English-language daily anywhere?

Answer: no.

The Times (of London) is a great and venerable paper, but not easily available in the US and focused on a different reality.

The New York Times is an institution in its own right, better than WSJ on foreign affairs, and a much more complete paper.

But the Wall Street Journal is as good as it gets for a daily newspaper reader in this country with a business bent, an appreciation for an unfailingly high standard of writing and editing, and no particular interest in 'soft' topics or the New York cultural scene.

This is one very crisp paper. The last time an article got too wordy was back in 1967 and that writer's body was never found.

Just kidding. But it would be a convenient myth for explaining WSJ's disciplined tone.

In the 'Personal Journal' section, I routinely find articles that reshape some aspect of my personal (usually financial) life and habits.

Sports news is heady and analytical. For example, as I write this review we are in the thick of the American and National League Championship Series. Today's reportage does not tell me who won and lost last night and why. Instead, the 'On Sports' column is called 'Base Instincts' and explains why so many third base coaches end up as managers. In short, apart from the players they are the most important guy on the field.

Across the page, the 'By the Numbers' column is called 'Praising Pitcher's Parks'. It asks why teams that play in pitcher-friendly parks do so well in October.

As of this moment, I still don't know who won last night. But I know a lot more about the game of baseball.

Best of all, you can generally avoid the pricey subscription if you're willing to use frequent flyer miles to subscribe.

One memorably off-kilter film moment had its protagonist emerging from his tent and declaiming, 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning.'

'Never smelled napalm and don't hanker after the carnage. But I can say that the sight of my Journal in the driveway every morning in its little blue bag is an oddly comforting experience.

Buy it.