In praise of a newspaper

(an old piece written around 1999)

On The Wall Street Journal

I always enjoy reading newspapers. The habit went back at least as far as the wartime between China and Vietnam in the late seventies. I used to fight with my father daily to get to read "the International News for Reference (?)" first. Only in recently years had we subscribed to the Wall Street Journal, for obviously practical reasons. I didn't warm up to it right away. The format was drastically different from any other newspapers I had ever read. It did not have colorful pictures; major figures mentioned in articles were sketches in black&white - interesting yet strange. Over all, the paper looked, well, it looked boring. Newspapers to me are mainly for entertainment these days. News comes from TV and, increasingly, from internet. And I had no interest in investment or business in general.

I guess I have to admit that environment does modulate one's behaviors. With the bulky journal scattering around the house all the time, I gradually picked up some short sections and long articles. Then one day I had an important discovery - the journal is the most informative, entertaining and educational newspaper I had ever read! It was certainly embarassing to admit that I had been so oblivious to the "most influential newspaper in the world" for so long while claiming myself a rigorous newspaper reader. Still it is better late than never. I am simply happy that I have got to know this paper eventually.

So what is it about the Journal that is special? Granted that whoever reads it must have very different opinions, here is my own take on it.

Other newspapers emphasize daily news (by definition; nothing wrong about it). But daily news nowadays is ubiquitous. One gathers the same information from internet, TV, radio or the first paper one picks up. The Journal, on the other side, provides only title size for most of the world and national news. This leaves the front page for other things it cares to carry. They are not all business-related, often about something new or strange in my opinion (one does not often read about them in other frontpages) and always written in a very interesting and personified style. In other words, they are more like stories than news and they make one ponder or simply delighted.

I always devote sizable time to the Journal editorials and opinions. The Journal has very strong and clear ideology standings: pro-business, pro-religion and socially conservative. I had never learned so much about American politics, cultural issues and ideology conflicts in any other place. In fact, I wasn't even aware of the existence of many of the particulars. I have become enormously interested in these issues and started to clarify my own views. The journal's position is somewhere to my right. Interestingly, despite its enormously influence over me, the Journal's position has remained, well, somewhere to my right through the years (I will talk more on this topic in other writings).

I also enjoy reading book reviews and reviews on music, art, theatre and sports. Again they are somehow different from what I read in other spapers and seem more entertaining. I had taken the book reviews seriously and stopped following the NYT bestsellers.

The Marketplace section carries more business-related news and trends in selected industries. I can usually find at least one interesting enough to follow. I had never missed the humourous "tofu" block (taken off since). Often, at this point, I run out of time. Otherwise, the Money&Investing is not that boring after all; or I will dig out other news between the pages.

Weekly, a special section would come along, introduicng an emerging industry, summarizing all one needs to know about certain investment or reviewing social changes of a past time frame of choice (mutual funds; internet; e-commerce, the world after the fall of berlin wall, etc, etc). It again makes a good leanring experience.

And as if it's still not enough! The Journal recently introduced a weekend section published every Friday. Wow, talk about favorites within favorites. It provided so many fun and original topics already that it has become a fixture of my weekend routine. Once a main article introduced the best art works in some of the most famously museums around the country. I am a total foreigner to arts and usually do not bother to learn. But this piece was not made of the usual laundry listing; instead, it was written in such a thoughtful and delightful way (probably with ingorant people like myself in mind) that I followed eagerly to track down the most storied, the most forgotten and the most controversial arts in the museums. It also helped that the article was illustrated with the works it talked about. The next time I walked into the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I was surprised by my own knowledge and appreciation of a couple of art works exhibited there!

Several things about the Journal stand out. 1). the quality of writing. I don't know how to describe it but one could simply feel the flow and elegance of style (even the constant manipulative playing of words). It makes plain contents fanciful and unfamiliar topics intimating. 2). the orginality and creativeness. So often I would come across something, a piece of news or an opinion, from other media sources after I have already read it first in the Journal. 3). The authenticity and that little bit of arrogance. It impresses me how the journal takes clear stand on various social, cultural and business issues, takes pride in its authenicity and resourcefulness, and takes it upon itself to educate and influence readers and the society as a whole.

What else could be asked of a daily newspaper?!