Rick Edmonds of The Poynter Institute profiled Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour, who is also the CEO of Dow Jones & Co.
Edmonds writes, “Latour does not deliver journalism with a British accent, but he has benefited from having one foot in U.S. culture and another in Europe. A number, but not all, of his postings as reporter, then editor, then publisher, have been abroad, where the Journal and other Dow Jones businesses have a big presence. The CEO job calls for a lot of globe-trotting.
“As for management style, Latour said that he loves water cooler chats and loves sharing story ideas with reporters and editors. But he adds a qualifier: ‘We want to give them their independence (in deciding which to pursue).’
“I see an intellectual perspective and a good deal of formality in how Latour handles the core of the job. Both editor Tucker and opinion editor Paul Gigot report to him. However, he never attends story conferences or editorial board deliberations, his communications team said. He was not at the table this summer as the company negotiated a contract with its 1,600-member union of Dow Jones editorial employees, union president Jodi Green told me, but no doubt the negotiators reported the development to him.
“In the last sentence of our interview, Latour seemed to meld his executive and writing skills, saving me the trouble of writing my own kicker.
“‘We only judge ourselves by results,’ he said. ‘It’s pretty intense around here.'”
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