As the New York Times prepares to charge for a chunk of its content (damn, that's two less martinis for us!), the WSJ Online is making a greater push to get its free stuff out there, appointing former WSJ staffer (and current WSJ contributor) Carl Bialik as "free-content editor" to connect specifically-targeted articles with the bloggers who will give them the sweet link of life in the blogosphere.

The subscription-only service does have free items - a whole archive of 'em here - and has already been offering them to bloggers on an informal email basis since managing editor Bill Grueskin began unlocking daily political stories during last year's campaign and sending the links to a few select bloggers (like Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine).

Bloggers love free stuff (not to mention getting around that damn WSJ subscription wall) so Grueskin's email list swelled quickly, and an informal initiative grew into an actual campaign to raise the WSJ's profile in the blogosphere (where the aforementioned subscription wall renders it pretty negligible). So Bialik was tapped to take the initiative to the next level: "Now we're trying to better target the emails so relevant content goes to relevant bloggers," he says. And it's interactive: the WSJ Online is looking to tailor free content to blogger feedback, with the goal of upping its blogginess (or, as the hip kids are calling it, bloggitude). If you want a ride on the free-WSJ gravy train drop Carl a line here: carl.bialik@wsj.com. Say Fishbowl sent you, just to make us feel important.

p.s. The cool kids actually aren't calling it 'bloggitude,' I made that up. Sometimes I'll make up words and use them if they sound rightish.