Les Hinton of 'The Wall Street Journal' Named E&P's Publisher of the Year

By: E&P Staff Les Hinton, Dow Jones & Co. CEO and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is Editor & Publisher's 2010 Publisher of the Year.

It was an easy choice, E&P Editor Mark Fitzgerald said. The Wall Street Journal is in one of the strongest positions of any newspaper in this country. It has grown its print and paid online combined circulation to more than 2 million subscribers to become the No. 1 daily in the U.S. Its advertising revenue is back in positive territory, up 23% year-over-year in the first quarter, while its peers reported that brutal quarterly declines were "moderating."

The Journal has an online paid-content strategy that is the envy of the industry. At a time when nearly every other U.S. daily is cutting back on newshole and coverage, the Journal is adding pages and sections and content spending what it says is "millions" on its latest project, the soon-to-be-launched New York edition, when just about every other daily is pulling back.

Hinton's role in the Journal's transformation under News Corp. ownership is detailed in a cover story by Senior Editor Jennifer Saba in the April print edition of Editor & Publisher, now on its way to subscribers.

Hinton has worked for News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch for nearly 50 years, and has his backing on this critical job. Murdoch tells E&P: "Les is a lifetime colleague of mine and one of our industry's most respected executives. He has an enviable record of success, across the globe and across many of our businesses, that continues today at Dow Jones. ? I am confident Les will continue to shape Dow Jones to not just successfully adapt, but to thrive, in the coming years."

E&P also is honoring the Journal for its swaggering bravado too often lacking in newspapers. "What we decided to do is we would become the unarguable, unchallengeable paper of record in this country," said Hinton, who is quick to point out the vision of the Journal is a team effort shared by Murdoch and Dow Jones Editor-In-Chief and Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson.

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