Troubling brewing at the Wall Street Journal

Emma Tucker

Lucia Moses of Business Insider writes about the growing unease at The Wall Street Journal under editor in chief Emma Tucker.

Moses writes, “Business Insider talked to a dozen insiders for this story; many of them said they had felt a shift from optimism to angst regarding Tucker and the newsroom generally. Some have taken to calling her No. 2, managing editor Liz Harris, who has announced many of the cuts, the ‘angel of death.’

“‘All anyone talks about is the workplace, and in a bad way,’ a second staffer said.

“Alongside her changes, tensions over labor bargaining took a turn Monday as Journal parent Dow Jones’ union, the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees (IAPE) Local 1096, authorized its membership to conduct a strike vote. An actual walkout, which would have to be approved by a majority of union members and IAPE’s parent, CWA, would be the first in the union’s 87-year history. The union planned to schedule a vote by members as soon as possible.

“Bargaining has been underway for 10 months and IAPE recently warned management that the situation was becoming a ‘powderkeg.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.