According to the Observer, the Wall Street Journal is to launch a new book reviews section in the US. Thus “doubling the number of weekly stand-alone book-review sections nationally” noted New York Magazine.

Many publications including the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times and the Washington Post have been forced to kill-off their pull-out books supplements over the past few years in financial cut-backs. That left only the New York Times’ Sunday Book Review section as the notable remainder.

Gawker.com speculated that the new section was just the next tactical move in the on-going battle between the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Since Murdoch acquired the Journal in 2007 it has started to cover more than financial news. Recently Murdoch introduced a New York specific section to the Journal, and in doing so claimed a share of the NY Times’ characteristic beat. Gawker said,  “The Wall Street Journal is really taking this “anything the New York Times does we can do better” fantasy very seriously!”

That books sections are not particularly lucrative has been reflected in their recent disappearance from the market. Perhaps it could be argued that Murdoch’s decision is not based on finance but on his personal tastes. News Corporation, Murdoch’s media empire, also includes the Times Literary Supplement and Harper Collins publishing house, one of the largest English-language publishers in the world.

The Observor reported that it is unclear how many pages the new book review section will have or if it “will surpass The Times‘ usual 20-plus pages for its weekly Sunday Book Review.” But the New York Magazine realized that “the Journal‘s section will be included in Saturday’s paper, meaning it’ll arrive on newsstands a full 24 hours before the NYT’s. Checkmate.” Even if it’s smaller, it will be available sooner.

The new section is to be edited by Robert Messenger a former editor of The Atlantic and The New York Sun. The existing books editor Erich Eichman will report to Messenger and Messenger will report to the Edit Page chief Paul Gigot.

In the Nation earlier this year, John Palattella wrote a lament for the book review, which ended in rousing call to arms: “Despite the turmoil and doubts, I think there’s no better time than the present to be covering books. The herd instinct is nearly extinct: newspapers inadvertently killed it when they scaled back on books coverage en masse; and the web, for all its crowds and their supposed wisdom, is a zone of unfederated cantons. The field is wide open. If you can’t take chances now, if in such a climate you can’t risk seeking an air legitimate and rare, when can you?” Perhaps Murdoch is simply rising to Palattella’s call.