Happy Birthday, WSJ!
As the Wall Street Journal celebrates its 130th year of publication, the demand for accurate, reliable and timely business and financial news continues to grow
This week, The Wall Street Journal marked its 130th birthday.
According to editor-in-chief Matt Murray in a reflective column published on July 8, The Wall Street Journal was founded as “…a four-page afternoon newspaper intended to fill a growing need for objective business and financial news in an emerging market where industry was growing but was hampered by opaque and unreliable information.”
“The opportunity for fair, factual, full reporting and analysis was clear” back then, wrote Murray. And, research shows that it still is.
The increasing value of news in scholarly research
Millions of academic and public library patrons access the Wall Street Journal through ProQuest every year, from its first edition in 1888 to breaking news published minutes ago.
In fact, according to a recent study commissioned by ProQuest and conducted by Dr. Eric T. Meyer, the use of newspapers like The Wall Street Journal in research is steadily growing, based on the number of published scholarly articles that include newspaper citations.
As would be expected, Meyer’s study shows that citations from The Wall Street Journal are generally focused on disciplines like business, finance and management. But, interestingly, its users come from around the world. In fact, of all the American newspapers in the study, it was cited by the most non-North American institutions (24 of the top 160), with a notable presence in Asia.
130 years of change – one steadfast mission
Even amid 130 years of change, said Murray in his column, “the essential mission of The Wall Street Journal has stayed the same: to fairly and factually chronicle the forces that have shaped our times, and to help our readers understand and navigate the world. That mission remains vital.
“Even in an age awash in information and random data – indeed, maybe especially in such an age – the need for trustworthy, contextual reporting is as high as ever,” he wrote.
ProQuest is proud to partner with publisher Dow Jones to give libraries access to not only the entire archive of The Wall Street Journal, but also crucial sources like WSJ.com, the Dow Jones Institutional Newswire, WSJ Pro newsletters, and archives of a number of titles that are no longer published. This content is available in many different formats across our digital news, microfilm and ABI/INFORM products.
For more detail on Dr. Meyer’s study, download the summary or the full report.
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Source:
"130 Years of History as seen in the Pages of the Wall Street Journal; A Special Report Highlighting how the Journal has Covered some of the most Significant Events in the World since its Debut in 1889." Wall Street Journal (Online), Jul 08, 2019. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/2252925009?accountid=131239.