Editing The Wall Street Journal (section)

===Founding and 19th century===
[[File:The Wall Street Journal first issue.jpg|thumb|Front page of the first issue of ''The Wall Street Journal'' on July 8, 1889]]
A predecessor to ''The Wall Street Journal'' was the Kiernan News Agency founded by [[John J. Kiernan]] in 1869.<ref name=Wells>{{cite journal|last=Wells|first=Rob|url=https://www.robswells.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Journalism-History-2020-John-J-Kiernan-Business-Journalism-Pioneer-1845-1893.pdf|title=John J. Kiernan: Business Journalism Pioneer, 1845-1893|journal=Journalism History|date=2020 |doi=10.1080/00947679.2020.1787780|volume=46|issue=4|pages=321–338}}</ref>{{rp|321, 324}} In 1880, Kiernan hired [[Charles H. Dow]] and [[Edward Jones (statistician)|Edward D. Jones]] as reporters. On a recommendation of [[Collis Potter Huntington]], Dow and Jones co-founded their own news service, [[Dow Jones and Company]], with fellow Kiernan reporter [[Charles Bergstresser]]. Dow Jones was headquartered in the basement of 15 Wall Street, the same building as Kiernan's company next to the [[New York Stock Exchange Building]].{{sfn|Scharff|1986|pp=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/2/mode/2up?q=%22john+j.+kiernan%22 2-3]}}

The first products of [[Dow Jones & Company]], the publisher of the ''Journal'', were brief news bulletins, nicknamed ''flimsies'', hand-delivered throughout the day to traders at the [[stock exchange]].<ref name="late 1800s">{{cite web|url=http://www.dowjones.com/TheCompany/History/History.htm|title=Dow Jones History: The Late 1800s|publisher=Dow Jones and Company|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227030114/http://www.dowjones.com/TheCompany/History/History.htm |archive-date=February 27, 2009|access-date=September 21, 2024|url-status=dead}}</ref> Beginning in 1883, they were aggregated in a printed daily summary called the ''Customers' Afternoon Letter'', sold for $1.50 per month compared to the $15 a month Dow Jones bulletin service.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/4/mode/2up?q=%22afternoon+letter%22 4]}} Dow Jones opened its own printing press at [[Empire Building (Manhattan)|71 Broadway]] in 1885.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/4/mode/2up?q=%22afternoon+letter%22 4]}}

Beginning July 8, 1889, the ''Afternoon Letter'' was renamed ''The Wall Street Journal''. The debut issue of the ''Journal'' was four pages long, with dimensions of 20 3/4 × 15 1/2 inches and cost of $0.02 per copy. In its early days, the ''Journal'' had "a tedious, blow-by-blow account of the day's business without benefit of editing," wrote Edward E. Scharff in 1986.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/4/mode/2up?q=%22afternoon+letter%22 4]}}

For nearly 40 years, the front page had a four-column format, with the middle two devoted to news briefs and the farther two filled with advertisements for brokerage services. The ''Journal'' focused on stories from news wires and listings of stocks and bonds, while occasionally covering sports or politics.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/4/mode/2up?q=%22afternoon+letter%22 4]}} One front-page story on the debut edition of ''The Wall Street Journal'' was a raw wire report about the boxing match between [[John L. Sullivan]] and [[Jake Kilrain]], with varying accounts of the fight citing ''[[The Boston Globe]]'', the ''[[Baltimore American]]'', and anonymous sources.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/4/mode/2up?q=%22sullivan+and+kilrain%22 5]}} Seldom did ''The Wall Street Journal'' publish analysis or opinion articles in its early decades.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/6/mode/2up?q=%22analysis+was+rare%22 6]}} In addition to a private wire to Boston, the ''Journal'' had reporters communicate via telegraph from Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh, [[Albany, New York|Albany]], and London.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/8/mode/2up?q=albany 8]}}

In 1896, the ''Journal'' began publishing two separate Dow Jones stock indicies, the [[Dow Jones Industrial Average]] and [[Dow Jones Transportation Average|Dow Jones Railroad Average]].<ref name="late 1800s"/>{{sfn|Scharff|1986|pp=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/6/mode/2up?q=%22two+separate+indexes%22 7]-[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/8/mode/2up?q=%22one+for+industrials%22 8]}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://guides.loc.gov/this-month-in-business-history/may/djia-first-published|title= Dow Jones Industrial Average First Published |publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=September 21, 2024}}</ref> The first morning edition of the ''Journal'' was published on November 14, 1898. By the late 1890s, daily circulation reached 7,000.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|p=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/6/mode/2up?q=%22analysis+was+rare%22 6]}}

Charles Dow wrote the first "Review and Outlook" column on April 21, 1899, a front-page editorial column explaining stock prices in terms of human nature; Dow's thinking would later be known as the [[Dow theory]]. Scharff regarded Dow's essays from 1899 to 1902 as "stock market classics".{{sfn|Scharff|1986|pp=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/6/mode/2up?q=%22Human+nature%22 6- 7]}}