Wall Street Journal

It’s the summer of a presidential election year, which means it’s time to renew, for the fourth time since 1996, our quadrennial discussion of the hugely consequential role that Ralph Nader is poised to play in November.

The aging consumer advocate, in case you’ve forgotten or didn’t know in the first place, announced his candidacy on Meet the Press over the winter and, besides scoring some headlines in June when an indicted referee lent some (but not much) credence to his NBA conspiracy theories, hasn’t been heard from much since – until this week, when NBC News and The Wall Street Journal included his name in their latest poll.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal is stocking up for its luxury glossy magazine, WSJ., and not surprisingly, it's importing talent from across the pond. There are several new hires, reports WWD's Irin Carmon: Welcome, Jeffrey Podolsky, the New York editor of Tatler and a regular contributor to Luxx, who has been named editor at large; and Sasha Wilkins, writer for British Harper's Bazaar and Elle, who will become executive style editor.  read more »

If you have the chance, get in on the ground floor of the Wall Street Journal's three-part series on the collapse of Bear Stearns. The first part debuted this morning under the headline "Lost Opportunities Haunt Final Days of Bear Stearns."

The story has everything--egos clashing, a confrontation in the office gym, ominous phone calls, bridge tournaments, and, of course, real estate (at least tangentially):  read more »

Say goodbye to the Financial District, suckers!

The Media Mob's John Koblin links to a PaidContent report that Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones staffers will be working out of News Corp.'s Midtown headquarters at 1211 Avenue of the Americas by spring of 2009:  read more »

Here's the News Corp. press release. More coming shortly.

Robert Thomson has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, effective immediately, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of Dow Jones & company, announced.

The Dow Jones Special Committee today unanimously endorsed Mr. Thomson's appointment following his nomination by the Company last week.

 read more »

Marcus Brauchli, the managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, is out, Time magazine is reporting. The departure is expected to be announced tomorrow. A spokesman for the paper declined to comment to Media Mob tonight. We'll have plenty more tomorrow.

The Wall Street Journal is organizing reporters into two news desks. One desk will consist of general news for the paper's newly organized A section—it'll include religion, science and foreign news—which sounds an awful like the A-section of The New York Times. The other desk will be the bread and butter of classic Journal reporting on corporate and business news. Romenesko has the memo, and in part, here's what Marcus Brauchli had to say:  read more »

For over an hour, the main number to Dow Jones, and specific numbers to desks at The Wall Street Journal, have had a busy signal. It's Friday, and deadline is fast approaching for reporters ...

UPDATE: One hour later, still busy.  read more »

In the wake of 100+ job cuts at Newsweek, the Journal's Rebecca Dana parachutes down into the Newsweek and Time buildings to find out what's happening.  read more »

The Wall Street Journal's longtime and well-liked First Amendment lawyer was fired by a Dow Jones senior executive, a recent hire by Rupert Murdoch.

The lawyer, Stuart Karle, had been with the newspaper since 1992. Yesterday afternoon Mr. Karle was called into the office of Dow Jones' counsel, Mark Jackson, who was formerly the associate chief counsel of HarperCollins and was made the chief counsel of Dow Jones on Dec. 17, two workdays after Mr. Murdoch closed on his sale of the company.  read more »

The newsier front-page of the Wall Street Journal has undergone a redesign with the paper adding a sixth column. Credit the eagle eye of WWD's Amy Wicks who reports:

Apparently the change has been under consideration by Marcus Brauchli since he took over as managing editor last April.  read more »

• 0 comments

Tina Gaudoin, an editor who worked closely with Wall Stret Journal publisher Robert Thomson at the Times of London, has been named the editor of Pursuits, the quarterly luxury magazine the paper will start in the fall. Media Mob reported on Jan. 18 that Ms. Gaudoin was the favorite to take over after Robert Frank was assigned to become a news editor for the paper (and not named, as most thought and reported, the editor of the magazine). Rupert Murdoch and Mr.  read more »

Rupert Murdoch, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, wants to move the newspaper's headquarters from the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan to his News Corp. building at 1211 Avenue of the Americas.

The Observer's John Koblin broke the news of the pending move in our brother blog Media Mob. Mr. Murdoch wants to make the move before the end of the year.  read more »

When Dow Jones shareholders were voting this morning, Rupert Murdoch was at the News. Corp headquarters on Sixth Avenue. Later in the day, after Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal officially became his, he took a trip down to the newsroom.

He spoke about their fears, and his expectations.  read more »

Sarah Ellison, the Wall Street Journal media reporter who recently signed a deal with Houghton Mifflin to write a book about Rupert Murdoch's takeover of Dow Jones, said she will leave the paper for a year in order to work on the book.

Ms. Ellison would not comment further on what will be in the book, but George Hodgman, her editor at Houghton Mifflin, said the book will contain new reporting.  read more »

With Rupert Murdoch talking about taking The Wall Street Journals Web site free, Financial Times is girding its loins for battle.

The newspaper announced yesterday that later this month it will initiate a program that allows online readers to access 30 articles a month without registering as paying members of the site.

Presently most of its content requires a subscription.  read more »

Just days after Rupert Murdoch started hanging around the Wall Street Journal offices, the New York Post reported that assistant managing editor Tunku Varadarajan was leaving.

The Observer noted that the Murdoch-owned Post neglected to mention Mr. Varadarajan’s harsh criticism of the News Corp. chief while Mr. Varadarajan wrote for the editorial page. In addition to lashing out at Mr. Murdoch and his son James, Mr. Varadarajan had also taken The Post to task for their coverage of China.

At the time, Mr. Varadarajan was contacted by The Observer, and has now responded via email: “This is NOT—although people have jumped to the conclusion that it is—Murdoch-related.”

Mr. Varadarajan also wrote that he is excited to return to academia, and will be starting at NYU’s Stern School in mid-October. His last day at the Journal will be September 30th.

As for the impending Murdoch takeover?

“I'm inclined to believe that Rupert Murdoch will be a force for positive change and general non-pomposity at the Journal,” he wrote.

While at the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, Tunku Varadarajan was one of Rupert Murdoch's toughest critics—especially regarding News Corp.'s relationship with the Chinese government.

Here's how one anti-Murdoch screed began: "Rupert Murdoch, a master practitioner of the corporate kowtow, has instructed his son James perfectly in the craft of craven submission to the communist regime in China."

So it's strange that when the New York Post reported today that Mr. Varadarajan is leaving the Journal for academia, his criticism of Mr. Murdoch—who also happens to own the Post—wasn’t mentioned.  read more »

When Rupert Murdoch’s visited the Wall Street Journal’s headquarters on Tuesday, not only were union flyers torn down in his honor, but there was another welcome surprise.

The flat-panel televisions on the 11th floor, where executives (and perhaps soon Mr. Murdoch) have offices, were tuned to Fox News.

“I had this sickening in my stomach,” said the staffer, “that the work we do would be attached to the work that they do.”

Typically, a Journal staffer said, the screens display either rotating shots from WSJ.com or the type of info-network (with news, weather, etc.) found in many Manhattan office buildings.

And while the televisions in the newsroom may still be airing CNBC, the launch of the Fox Business Channel is just over a month away.

The Observer reported yesterday on editorial page editor Paul Gigot's scoop about Karl Rove’s resignation, buried on page A15.

Since The Journal did not run a reported story at the time, there is a piece today out of the Washington D.C. bureau, co-written by John D. McKinnon and Jackie Calmes. (Oddly, it doesn't jump off Page 1).

When reached by phone, Ms. Calme said that she was given no forewarning from Journal higher-ups about the contents of Mr. Gigot’s interview, and discovered the news the same time as the competition—in the early morning hours on August 13. Of course, Mr. Rove spread the news to Mr. Gigot two days earlier.

So did Mr. Rove give the scoop to The Journal’s editorial page with an embargo not to leak it to the other side of the editorial/ news divide?

Managing editor Marcus Brauchli has not returned emails or calls seeking comment. Mr. Gigot has declined to comment.

But Peter Baker, the Washington Post’s White House correspondent, expressed his theory in an online Q&A. (Thanks FishbowlDC).

“Rove obviously crafted his own departure strategy, starting with a mostly sympathetic ear in Paul Gigot, the editorial page editor of the Journal,” Mr. Baker wrote. “Gigot got the scoop and wrote a piece that let Rove largely frame his decision on his terms. It's a little unusual to do it that way, but I suppose not entirely surprising. It certainly made for an early morning since the Journal email came out around 4:45 a.m."

Quite early for the Journal’s own reporters, too.

Karl Rove’s resignation is easily the biggest news story today, and it broke first in the pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Typically, such news might appear on A1, in the right hand column. Instead, Mr. Rove’s anticipated date of departure—by the end of August—was reported on A15, in the sixth paragraph of an interview with editorial page editor Paul Gigot.

On the Journal’s front page, there is only a stock photograph of Mr. Rove waving and smiling, with the following teaser: “Why Karl Rove Plans to Leave The White House.”

At 6:46 a.m., The Journal published a news story that essentially reiterated what Mr. Gigot discovered in his exclusive interview, with the byline, “Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter.”

It wasn’t until the next hour that The Journal’s White House correspondent John D. McKinnon filed a news story. (Now, that piece includes a video interview with Mr. Gigot discussing his scoop).

So where was the Washington bureau on this story?

“We don’t talk about our internal news decisions,” said David Wessel, the Journal’s deputy Washington bureau chief.

He added: “As you know, the editorial page and the news department are separate.”

Of course, the Chinese Wall between editorial and news is a vital part of The Journal’s legacy.

But does that preclude Mr. Gigot from informing the news side of a huge breaking story, which he learned two days earlier?

Mr. Wessel declined to answer whether he was aware of Mr. Rove’s resignation before today.

Regardless, this scoop allowed Mr. Gigot the prime opportunity to show off the editorial page’s Washington clout to his future boss, Rupert Murdoch, said one Journal staffer. Mr. Murdoch, in recent interviews, has made no secret his intention to beef up the paper’s political coverage in the nation’s capital.

That said, would the New York Post’s editorial page hold such nugget—or, more likely, would the White House news be splashed across the tabloid’s wood?

A Journal spokesperson declined to comment on internal news decisions. Managing editor Marcus Brauchli is away, and could not be reached for comment. Page One editor Mike Williams could not be reached for comment. Mr. Gigot declined to comment.

This afternoon, Rupert Murdoch and his son James meet with three members of the Bancroft family to discuss his bid to buy Dow Jones, Inc., publisher among other things of The Wall Street Journal. The meeting will be held at the offices of Wachtell Lipton, advisers to the Bancrofts, and has been designed as "part social gathering and part business meeting," the Journal reports.  read more »

In a statement released last night, the Bancroft family, which controls Dow Jones Inc., accepted Rupert Murdoch's invitation to meet members of his family to discuss the possibility of selling the company to News Corp.  read more »