NEW YORK, Sept. 5, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Wall Street Journal today announced it has created a new bureau to expand its leading coverage of the $200 billion fashion industry. Based in New York, the new fashion bureau will coordinate all global reporting on fashion, retail and luxury goods for the U.S., European, Asian and online editions of the Journal. Lisa Bannon, previously deputy bureau chief of the Journal's media and marketing section, has been named chief of the new bureau.
The fashion bureau was formed to unify and expand current coverage of the fashion, retail and luxury goods industry, with Journal award-winning insight and analysis of the fashion industry appearing in all global editions. In New York, the new bureau will unite five fashion beat reporters working for different sections of the Journal under one department. In addition, Ms. Bannon will collaborate with Journal reporters elsewhere, including in Paris, London, Tokyo and Los Angeles.
"The Journal will continue to bring its high standards of journalism and coverage to the business of fashion, helping readers understand this important, growing industry," said L. Gordon Crovitz, executive vice president, Dow Jones & Company, publisher, The Wall Street Journal. "In addition, more and more fashion and luxury goods advertisers recognize that our audience is the most valuable in the world. For example, independent surveys show that readers of the Journal buy more women's fashion accessories than the readers of any of the women's fashion magazines. Readers of the Journal are the most affluent, influential and style-setting and we are delighted to be able to serve them even better with our expanded coverage."
"Fashion has become an increasingly important topic for the Journal and for our readers world-wide," said Paul E. Steiger, managing editor, The Wall Street Journal. "Creating this new bureau allows us to take advantage of our extensive industry knowledge by uniting all of our relevant reporters under one bureau. Our coverage will be different from other publications in that it will encompass the business behind the fashion industry and fashion trends, which embraces traditional Journal reporting."
The increased fashion coverage also provides benefits for luxury and fashion advertisers.
"Advertisers will have the opportunity to influence readers when they are most receptive to making both personal and business fashion choices," said Judy Barry, senior vice president of sales and marketing, The Wall Street Journal. "This gives advertisers a chance to embrace the Journal's diverse content in a unique mix of both business and consumer content six days a week."
The expanded fashion coverage will appear in Marketplace, particularly in the Style & Substance column, on page one of the global Journal, regularly in Pursuits in the U.S., in the weekend sections overseas and periodically in Weekend Journal and Personal Journal.
Prior to moving to New York in 2003, Ms. Bannon was based in Los Angeles, where she was a senior special writer for the Journal. Before that she was based in Milan for The Wall Street Journal Europe, with responsibility for political, business and economic coverage of Italy. From 1984 until 1992, Ms. Bannon worked for Fairchild News Service as a reporter covering business in Toronto, Paris and Milan. Ms. Bannon has a Bachelor's degree in political science and English from Miami University in Ohio.
There will be additional features and content in the expanded fashion coverage that will be announced at a later date.
About The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal, the flagship publication of Dow Jones & Company (NYSE:DJ) (www.dowjones.com) is the world's leading business publication. Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal has a print and online circulation of nearly 2.1 million, reaching the nation's top business and political leaders, as well as investors across the country. Holding 31 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, the Journal seeks to help its readers succeed by providing essential and relevant information, presented accurately and fairly, from an authoritative and trusted source. The Wall Street Journal print franchise has more than 600 journalists world-wide, part of the Dow Jones network of nearly 1,900 business and financial news staff. Other publications that are part of The Wall Street Journal franchise, with total circulation of 2.7 million, include The Wall Street Journal Asia, The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. In 2006, the Journal was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the seventh consecutive year.
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