WSJ staffers upset at acquiesence

David Carr of the New York Times writes Monday that a number of Wall Street Journal staff members are upset with departing managing editor Marcus Brauchli and the paper’s fired general counsel for not raising a stink as they depart the paper.

Carr writes, “One reporter, one who doesn’t have a cushy severance agreement so we will leave his name out of it, apparently found the mannered wake at the Grill Room a little too much to bear. According to two people who overheard the conversation, the reporter stepped up to both Mr. Steiger and Mr. Brauchli and said how disappointing their acquiescence had been.

“Among the reporters and editors I spoke with, the anger toward Mr. Brauchli, 46, was particularly acute. True, he was in a difficult position. The job he had coveted his whole working life was being taken from him and it would be hard to turn down the money on the table. (Give me $3 million and I’ll stop typing right now. Or maybe not.)

“As many Journal people also pointed out, all senior editorial staff at the paper are covered by generous severance agreements, providing Mr. Brauchli with more than enough for his family to be secure in the near term even without the hush money. Somehow, everybody in the News Corporation’s way managed to do well, including members of the editorial committee, who are paid $100,000 a year.

“The ultimate editorial committee, of course, is the readers, and circulation figures will be released Monday for the last six months ending on March 1. Given the quickly evolving Journal, it will be some time before we learn how the new approach is landing on its readers.”

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