The Wall Street Journal's much anticipated Bay Area edition launches tomorrow, the newspaper said in an announcement. The newspaper will fold Bay Area-specific news into the A-section of the print edition every Thursday, the newspaper says, and has also created a Bay Area-specific section of its Web site at WSJ.com/SF.

The announcement said the paper will provide coverage in a variety of areas, including "local business news, economics, technology, cultural activities, sports, politics and education issues."

While it said the paper will provide "unique insights" for readers, Chief Revenue Officer Michael Rooney also had this to say: "This edition also provides a new platform that helps advertisers target this important audience." The print edition currently reaches 92,000 subscribers with a median household income of more than $154,000.

No word yet on whether the paper's San Francisco bureau will produce the content or whether, like the New York Times, they will be seeking other partners.

Update 1: A WSJ spokeswoman just told us that all editing and reporting will be done by current Journal staff. That's in marked contrast to the Times, whose president and general manager said that the Times was looking for partners to produce the content for the Bay Area edition, because having Times reporters do the reporting and writing "doesn't really fit within our staffing model."

Update 2: Matt Murray, the Journal's deputy managing editor, and Steve Yoder, the Journal's San Francisco bureau chief, will oversee the editorial direction of the print and Web content. And most of the content on the WSJ.com/SF site will be free, since it is general news. Business and finance stories, however, will be subscriber-only.

Complete press release, after the jump.

Wall Street Journal Launches San Francisco Bay Area Edition Focused on Local News and Events

NASDAQ OMX is Official Launch Sponsor of New Edition

NEW YORK , Nov. 4, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Wall Street Journal today announced it will launch a San Francisco Bay Area edition focusing on local news and events, beginning tomorrow, Nov. 5, and appearing locally every Thursday in the A-section of the print Journal.

In addition, WSJ.com will provide regularly updated local news and information at WSJ.com/SF.

NASDAQ OMX is the official launch sponsor of the new San Francisco Bay Area edition beginning Nov. 5 through the end of 2009.

"NASDAQ OMX is delighted to be an advertising partner in the new WSJ Bay Area edition. The Bay Area and Silicon Valley are key markets where NASDAQ and our listed companies have made a strong mark since NASDAQ's inception nearly 40 years ago. With over 550 companies listed on NASDAQ OMX based in California, Northern California is home to some of NASDAQ's most innovative companies from a number of key sectors including technology, healthcare/biotech, financial and consumer.

Within the tech sector, 88% of public technology companies in California list on NASDAQ," said John Jacobs, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of NASDAQ OMX. "We look forward to reading the WSJ's Bay edition regularly and hearing about key business trends and innovations coming from this vibrant, progressive region in our country."

The Journal will offer unique insight to a wide range of topics of
interest to local readers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including
local business news, economics, technology, cultural activities,
sports, politics and education issues.

"The new San Francisco Bay Area edition is a great addition to the wide range of U.S. and international coverage we currently provide to
Journal readers in the Bay Area," said Michael F. Rooney, chief revenue officer of The Wall Street Journal. "This edition also provides a new platform that helps advertisers target this important audience."

WSJ.com/SF will offer users content from the print edition, surface
additional relevant articles from across Dow Jones properties with
related video and offer the opportunity for feedback and discussion via Journal Community groups. Additional online elements include a weekly email newsletter each Thursday with links to top headlines and video from that day's local edition.

The Journal has aggressively covered local news in the Bay Area since
the opening of its San Francisco bureau in 1929. The bureau currently
leads the Journal's coverage of the tech industry and Silicon Valley,
California state politics and a wide range of general California news, from housing to economics. The Journal reaches an audience of more than 92,000 readers in the San Francisco market with a median household income of more than $154,000 -- the most affluent and influential audience in Northern California.

The San Francisco Bay Area edition is the latest investment in the
Journal franchise that has included additional news and opinion pages
in the newspaper; a redesigned WSJ.com with expanded free and
subscription content; enhanced Web sites in Europe and Asia, including local language sites in China and Japan; WSJ., the Journal's first glossy magazine; launch of The News Hub, a twice-daily online news video broadcast on WSJ.com; mobile delivery of Journal content via the WSJ Mobile Reader for iPhone and BlackBerry; and the launch of Wall Street Journal Professional, the Journal's new premium product.

About The Wall Street Journal

Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal, the flagship publication of
Dow Jones & Company is the world's leading business publication and
holds 33 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism. The Wall Street
Journal has a print and online circulation of more than 2 million,
reaching the nation's top business and political leaders, as well as
investors across the country. The Wall Street Journal boasts the
largest individually paid circulation out of the top 25 U.S.
newspapers. Other publications that are part of The Wall Street Journal franchise, with a global audience of 3.8 million, include The Wall Street Journal Asia and The Wall Street Journal Europe. The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com is the leading provider of business and financial news and analysis on the Web with more than one million
subscribers and 26 million users per month. WSJ.com is the flagship
site of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, which also includes
MarketWatch.com, Barrons.com and AllThingsD.com. In 2009, the Journal
was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the 10th consecutive
year. The Wall Street Journal Radio Network services news and
information to more than 375 radio stations in the U.S.