The Wall Street Journal confirmed on Tuesday that it will begin running "jewel-box" ads on its front page.

The "jewel-box" ads will include some of the Journal's largest, most influential advertisers on a front page considered "some of the most prominent print real estate in the industry." The ads will run in color, mostly square shaped, and in the bottom right-hand corner of the paper. Another option, similar to one used by Gannett, will be to run the ads as a strip across the bottom of the front page.

The ads will begin in September, and are predicted to bring in "tens of millions of dollars in ad revenue." L Gordon Crovitz, publisher of The Journal and executive vice president of The Journal’s owner, Dow Jones & Company, said "The Wall Street Journal will provide the most valuable opportunity anywhere in any medium for advertisers who want to reach a large, affluent and influential audience,” but declined to name who among WSJ advertisers may take the costly front-page positions. It is speculated that the front-page ads could cost "$75,000 to somewhere in the low six figures, several times the cost of a similar-size ad inside the paper."

The WSJ appears to be following a new trend of front-page advertising that began with Gannett's USA Today in 1999. British newspapers The Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph also run front-page ads, and the New York Times recently began selling front-page ads for its business section, and now runs small ads on its Metro section in the Sunday edition.

The idea of running more ads on news-only sections of the Chicago Tribune is also being considered. A spokeswoman for The Chicago Tribune, confirmed on Wednesday that the region's largest daily is "exploring opportunities" to put advertising on its front page and other sections. The Trib is considering first placing ads on the back of its Main, or "A" Section during the week. Ads currently run on the back of the "A" section in Saturday and Sunday edition.

As a result of the recent drop in the Trib's revenues, president and publisher David Hiller indicated in a staff memo last week that Tribune Co. would be looking to “create some new ‘premium ad’ positions in the newspaper." Hiller, in an interview last week, indicated that the premium ads would "either innovative ad types and shapes and color,” but would not indicate exactly where the ads would be placed.

The idea of front-page advertising does raise some ethical concerns. The Poynter Institute's Bob Steele, who specializes, believes the front page of newspapers should reserved for what is commonly considered news: “Gannett has changed this equation considerably in the last few years with section-front and front-page ads, and now the Internet has presented a whole new tabletop. The question becomes, How do newspapers protect their journalistic integrity at the same time they develop new revenue streams?’’

The second quarter earnings picture for some of the newspaper industry's giants continues its downward trajectory. The New York Times reports that Tribune Company, Media General, and Gannett Company have all reported second quarter losses.

Tribune Company, owner of 11 dailies including the Chicago Tribune , The Los Angeles Times, and Newsday, along with 24 television stations, announced a 62 percent side in its second quarter net earnings. Second quarter revenues declined 1.4 percent from 1$1.45 billion to $1.43 billion. As a result Tribune will cut 120 jobs, approximately 4 percent of its workforce, by the end of the year. The newspaper will invest more in its Internet operations and its free paper, Red Eye.

Media General took a 47 percent drop in second quarter earnings, while Gannett Company reported 8.3 percent drop for the same period.

McClatchy's earnings hold steady at $44.1million or 94 cents per share, with a 4.4 percent decline in circulation. First quarter earnings were reported at $44.2 million, also with 94 cents per share.
Second-quarter figures do not reflect McClatchy's acquisition of Knight-Ridder. The transaction was completed two days into McClatchy's third fiscal quarter.

Tim Porter notes that Merrill Lynch issued a solemn prediction in January that "newspaper ad revenue growth in 2006 is likely to trail" the 2.4 percent estimate in 2005. "For journalists working in newspaper newsrooms, consider these financial reports as a series of wake-up calls" Tim believes."The digital newspaper future is already here - and it's not one most journalists would have invented, but if they don't seize control of the change process then someone else, someone from the boardroom, will do it for them."

Jon Dube looks at the results of a recent survey by Belden Associates that finds newspaper readers going more often to newspaper sites than previously thought. Belden's survey also notes that "newspaper site audiences have aged five years over the past five years, even though overall newspapers' online audience continues to grow. Greg Harmon, Belden's director for interactive believes this "is pointing to the fact that newspaper web sites are drawing people who are already newspaper readers."