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Aug. 25, 2015, 12:52 p.m.
Mobile & Apps
LINK: wn.wsj.com  ➚   |   Posted by: Shan Wang   |   August 25, 2015

WSJnews-screenshotWhat’s News, The Wall Street Journal’s new digest app designed specifically for mobile subscribers launched today for iOS, on top of the existing catchall Journal app. (The new app is iOS-only, but the company intends to roll out an Android version later this year).

When we first previewed the app a few weeks ago, the Journal’s chief innovation officer Edward Roussel said the app was one of the company’s many new efforts to “think digital” and “think mobile,” in order to attract — and retain — subscribers.

“This is the first WSJ product truly for mobile,” Roussel said. “Twenty years ago, we were shoehorning the newspaper into web. In 2007, we began shoehorning that into a mobile device. And now mobile is becoming dominant — that’s the premise.”

An accompanying (mobile-optimized) morning briefing, which highlights in more detail “what to watch” for the morning and “what you missed” lives online and encourages readers to download the app or subscribe to the Journal.

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The media becomes an activist for democracy
“We cannot be neutral about this, by definition. A free press that doesn’t agitate for democracy is an oxymoron.”
Embracing influencers as allies
“News organizations will increasingly rely on digital creators not just as amplifiers but as integral partners in storytelling.”
Action over analysis
“We’ve overindexed on problem articulation, to the point of problem admiring. The risk is that we are analyzing ourselves into inaction and irrelevance.”