diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 26148ce1c7..10f8bffd23 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ CHANGES WITH 259 in spe:
           command to add recovery keys to existing user accounts. Previously,
           recovery keys could only be configured during initial user creation.
 
+        * The default storage mode for the journal is now 'persistent'.
+          Previously, the default was 'auto', so the presence or lack of
+          /var/log/journal determined the default storage mode, if no
+          overriding configuration was provided. The default can be changed
+          with -Djournal-storage-default=.
+
 CHANGES WITH 258:
 
         Incompatible changes:
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index f8a0fe3712..4ce3c7faca 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ option('timedated', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'install the systemd-timedated daemon')
 option('timesyncd', type : 'boolean',
        description : 'install the systemd-timesyncd daemon')
-option('journal-storage-default', type : 'combo', choices : ['auto', 'volatile', 'persistent', 'none'],
+option('journal-storage-default', type : 'combo', choices : ['persistent', 'auto', 'volatile', 'none'],
        description : 'default storage mode for journald (main namespace)')
 option('remote', type : 'feature', deprecated : { 'true' : 'enabled', 'false' : 'disabled' },
        description : 'support for "journal over the network"')