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This may be a very silly / dumb question but just curious for someone who does not pay that much attention to the news in the business world, would reading such things as the WSJ / generally keeping "up" with the topic be of great help in biglaw interviews?

Why is this anonymous?

DealBook is probably more relevant, but definitely not required and reference to such events ineptly would have more of a negative effect than a positive one.

Dealbook is good if you are trying to do corporate. It's at least good to see some of the names of the players so if they get name dropped, you don't blank stare back. It's probably most useful to search Dealbook for whatever firms you are interviewing at just before the interview to see if you can find talking points.

In 25+ screening interviews and numerous callbacks, no one I ever spoke to at a firm expected me to have anything but the vaguest notion of what was happening in the economy or the business world. YMMV.

That said, it might be worth getting a bit of a background for your own edification. When I took Corporations, I wished I knew more going in about how corporations are structured, shareholder relations, M&A issues, etc.

It's really not expected of you to know any of this stuff. If you have some pre-existing passion or experience, then it helps to talk about in terms of your reasons to want to work at a big firm. But aside from that, you really don't have to know anything about it.

Wall Street Journal? That commie rag?

Kidding, kidding.

Probably not necessary for work, like the above posters have said...

That said, you should probably read a newspaper (while they still exist) to, you know, keep abreast of the world outside your office.

Try "liking" some finance/corporate-type pages on facebook (WSJ, Dealbook, Barron's, Marketwatch, CNN Money, Financial Times, etc.). Updates will pop up on your newsfeed, which certainly makes things more convenient.