HONG KONG, May 18, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Wall Street Journal Asia, the region's leading international business newspaper, today commenced printing in India. The Wall Street Journal Asia will be printed Mondays through Fridays by The Express Group at print sites in New Delhi and Mumbai. The paper will be delivered the same day to individual and corporate subscribers and will be available at newsstands in major Indian cities.
The launch of the locally printed edition follows the Indian government's decision earlier this year to allow foreign investment in the publication of facsimile editions of foreign newspapers and its approval of Dow Jones & Company's proposal to publish a facsimile edition of The Wall Street Journal Asia in India. Today's launch also follows the debut in February of a new regional Journal online homepage for India (www.india.wsj.com) and WSJ.com Mobile Reader.
Since News Corp. acquired Dow Jones in 2007, the company has invested in the Asia-Pacific marketplace with the expansion of news and editorial content, including the debut in September 2008 of WSJ., a new glossy lifestyle magazine distributed with all Asia editions of the paper; the redesign, unveiled in December 2008, of the Journal's Chinese-language Web site (http://chinese.wsj.com); the launch in February 2009 of an expanded Web site dedicated to content for Asia (http://asia.wsj.com) and the regional introduction of WSJ.com Mobile Reader; and later this year, the launch of a Japanese-language Web site featuring Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones print and online content.
"Journal readers in India now have access to actionable and insightful news and information from the most respected name in financial journalism," said Todd Larsen, chief operating officer, Dow Jones Consumer Media Group. "This latest investment in our brand is part of Dow Jones's commitment to growing our business in India and across Asia at a time when a number of media owners are retrenching."
"We are delighted to better serve our readers by making The Wall Street Journal Asia available at daybreak for the first time in India," said Christine Brendle, managing director, Asia, Dow Jones Consumer Media Group and publisher of The Wall Street Journal Asia.
"Today's launch is a truly significant milestone in recognition of India's increasingly prominent role on the world economic stage," said Suman Dubey, editor and publisher of WSJ Publishing India PL. "There is unprecedented demand for business and financial news among India's business, opinion and community leaders, who need authoritative and trusted news and analysis about the global economy and international affairs."
The Wall Street Journal Asia, which was founded in 1976 and has a total circulation of 80,090 (Hong Kong ABC, July-Dec 2008), is also printed at nine other locations in the Asia-Pacific region.
Subscription information for The Wall Street Journal Asia in India is available at: www.wsj-asia.com/insub.
About The Wall Street Journal Asia
The Wall Street Journal Asia is the leader in global business news for Asia. Since 1976, it has provided indispensable news and analysis of regional and global business developments for an influential pan-Asian audience of corporate and government decision-makers. The Wall Street Journal Asia has been voted the most "important business reading" among international daily newspapers in Asia in every ABRS/BE:ASIA study since the survey's inception in 1985.
The Wall Street Journal's China staff won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for coverage of the consequences of the nation's rapid growth. The Wall Street Journal Asia and Far Eastern Economic Review, both of which are published by Dow Jones & Co., won a combined six awards in the 2008 Society of Publishers in Asia awards for Editorial Excellence.
Edited and published in Hong Kong, The Wall Street Journal Asia is printed in eleven Asian cities -- Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Mumbai, New Delhi, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo -- and distributed throughout the Asia Pacific region. More than 75% of its subscribers are Asian.
The Wall Street Journal's web site for Asia is at www.asia.wsj.com and homepage for India is at www.india.wsj.com. The Wall Street Journal is also published online in Chinese at www.chinese.wsj.com.
The Wall Street Journal Asia logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6191
About The Express Group
For over 75 years, The Express Group of publications has been synonymous with excellence in journalism and a commitment to independence and fairness. Its flagship newspaper The Indian Express has twice won the Vienna-based International Press Institute's India Award for Outstanding Journalism in the Public Interest. It has won every major national journalism award and several international awards, including the Kurt Shorck Award for International Journalism, Natali Prize for Journalism and the International Federation of Journalists -- Journalism for Tolerance Prize.
With the largest network of reporters across the country, The Indian Express and the business daily, The Financial Express, are published from a dozen cities every day, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Jammu and Chennai. There is also a weekly edition in the United States. The Group publishes Loksatta in Mumbai, the largest Marathi daily, and Jansatta in Hindi. Screen, its weekly entertainment magazine, is considered the most influential and authoritative in the Mumbai film industry.
The Express Group's website is www.expressindia.com and the homepage for The Indian Express is at www.indianexpress.com.