Michael Savage, the media editor at The Guardian profiles Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker.
Savage writes, “The Tucker enigma re-emerged at the Journal, as staff noted the same mix of personable demeanour, enthusiasm for stories and willingness to make cuts.
“‘She’s very emotionally intelligent – like, the 99th percentile,’ said one. They said morale had improved more recently. New hires have followed.
“A cultural shift on stories also arrived. What emerges is a Tucker Venn diagram. At its overlapping centre lie stories with two qualities: they cover legitimate areas of public importance and aim squarely at eye-catching topics with digital reach.
“Tucker gave investigative reporters the examples of Elon Musk and China as two potential areas. Some complained the topics were ‘clickbaity.’ However, one journalist who had had reservations conceded: ‘Musk turned out to be a pretty good topic.’ Tucker’s use of metrics around web traffic and time spent reading a story irked some reporters.
“Headlines were made more direct. Honorifics such as ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’ were ditched. There was a ban on stories having more than three bylines. ‘She loosened a lot of the strictures that we had,’ said one staffer. ‘We’re encouraged to write more edgy stories.'”
Read more here.
