Bloomberg reports today on the local news battlegrounds that The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are currently staking out. Both papers are exploring regional editions in places like the Bay Area and Chicago, to the chagrin of some local papers.
But: where does this all leave New York City?
Earlier this month, The Journal announced plans to add a small local-news staff in the city; meanwhile, The Times‘ 103-person Metro desk is looking vulnerable to impending buyouts/layoffs. According to Bloomberg:
The Times derived almost half, or 444,533, of its national weekday circulation of 1.04 million from its hometown, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations data from September 2008, the most recent available. The Journal’s 303,820 New York-area circulation in the period compares with 2.04 million nationwide, which includes paid readers to its Web site.
“Readers are looking for more local content in the paper,” Dow Jones spokesman Robert Christie tells Bloomberg. But presumably that applies to New Yorkers as much as San Franciscans–and since The Times folded its Metro news into the paper’s front section last fall, one might be forgiven for wondering why there isn’t room for “more local content” in these parts.