WSJ layoffs coming against higher profits

David Folkenflik of NPR looks at the Wall Street Journal layoffs and the performance of the publication.

Folkenflik writes, “Earlier this month, News Corp told investors its profitability rose slightly against its performance a year ago. And The Journal’s corporate division, Dow Jones, attained 5 million paying digital subscribers for the first time.

“‘It’s extremely disappointing that the company continues to have layoffs when every quarter they’re making record profits,’ says Jodi Green, president of the union local representing the newsroom.

“‘We don’t understand the reasoning behind a lot of it and it’s discouraging to our members and to morale throughout the newsroom and all of Dow Jones.'”

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.