WSJ Blurs Distinction Between News and Corporate Promos---Part I

This is another one of those days when CultureGrrl gets herself into trouble---by biting the hand that feeds her. There are two recent developments at the Wall Street Journal that concern me:

First, the new WSJ.com Video feature (clickable on the front page of the subscribers-only online WSJ):

Watch the latest interviews featuring your favorite WSJ editors and reporters. Catch video covering breaking news, analysis, commentary and special reports.

I'm all for transforming reporters into multimedia stars, but not if they stop probing and start hyping. The video closest to my own field of interest was the one that previewed Christie's auction of rock memorabilia. (The auction took place Monday, but the preview is still up on the website, with no update on the actual prices fetched by the featured items.)

WSJ reporter Nick Timaroas, notebook in hand, lofted softball questions at Christie's specialist Helen Hall. The questionable exercise was essentially an infomercial for the auction house's sale, with timorous Timaroas inquiring about why a 1968 Jimi Hendrix Fender Stratocaster guitar was expected to fetch lots of money (it sold Monday for $168,000, with premium) and why record auction prices were being achieved in many fields. Hall's self-serving answers were almost as bland as the questions.

Similarly, the lead video on yesterday's (and also, so far, today's) online WSJ shows Tom Weber, editor of the weekend "Pursuits" section, demonstrating and hyping "one of the most eagerly awaited" video games, "Spore," due for release in late 2007. To me, it looked like a tame, lame game, but what do I know? "Any robot news coming soon?" was one of Weber's questions for game developer Will Wright. "Not yet," was the answer. We can only hope for a "Robot News Update," when something does finally happen.

In a third segment, Victoria's Secret's chief executive and president, Sharen Turney, informed MarketWatch's Tom Middleton that the company's annual televised flesh fest (which aired last night) was an "opportunity for us to showcase our products....This year, for the first time, we actually took the fashion show to make it commercial---to actually talk about our new Secret Embrace bra." They "actually" made it commercial? What a great idea!

Exacerbating the the oppressive smog of puff-piece journalism is the exasperating necessity of watching an advertising clip every time you click on another video. There is just no way to abort it. The weak content of the videos that I viewed, coupled with the print reporters' inadequately coached, wooden delivery, made me nostalgic for the days when all we needed to be properly informed was good old newsprint, whose only interactivity was the black ink rubbing off on your fingers.

Before giving up on this dubious initiative, I clicked the video report on smart phones by the only technological guru I'll ever need, Walt Mossberg. Sure enough, we were back in the familiar WSJ realm of incisive journalism. Maybe the online editors just need to exercise some discriminating quality judgments, like Walt always does when he reviews high-tech gadgetry.

I probably should have surfed to something more in line with the WSJ's traditional strengths: "Bernanke on Inflation." But Ben, I'm just not that into you.

There's a second development at the WSJ that troubled me even more deeply: A recent marketing initiative, pegged to this week's Art Basel Miami Beach, had me rubbing my eyes at the blurry line between print journalism and advertising.

COMING SOON: UBS's corporate promotion, disguised as an eight-page art market report.