Wall Street Journal editor in chief Emma Tucker sent out the following on Wednesday:
Dear all,
Today, we are announcing a strategic restructure of our Features and Weekend teams. The moves mark a shift from a print-centric organization to a more nimble, topic-driven structure designed to serve our readers wherever they engage with us—across the site, the app, our four weekly newsprint sections and WSJ. Magazine.
Sarah Ball will lead this evolution as our new features coverage chief, while maintaining her role as editor in chief of WSJ. Magazine. With her sharp journalistic instincts, Sarah has transformed the magazine into an authority on style, culture and entertainment. She is the ideal leader to integrate our coverage and elevate our storytelling across all platforms.
Sarah and her new team will be responsible for producing our four weekly sections–Mansion, Exchange, Off Duty and Review–as well as Sports.
Joining her is Heather Halberstadt, who is promoted to deputy features coverage chief. Heather has successfully led the Mansion section for several years and, before that, held key roles at Departures Magazine and Vanity Fair.
Together, they will lead teams of specialists across several key coverage areas:
Weekend Ideas: Led by Yael Kohen, this team will produce our signature weekend essays and analysis.
Exchange: Emily Nelson will remain editor of our must-read weekend business section.
Culture: Managed by Bonnie Wertheim, this team will explore power, wealth and influence, including corporate trends and the complexities of influencer and wellness culture.
Entertainment & Arts: Led by Kayleen Schaefer, this group will focus on books, TV, film, art and music.
Fashion & Lifestyle: We will be advertising for an editor to manage this section, which will cover travel, food, wine and cars, producing content for Off Duty, WSJ. Magazine and the app’s Life and Style sections.
Property & Home: Led by Candace Taylor, this team will drive the Mansion section and home-related features for the magazine.
Sports: We are advertising for a new sports editor following Jonathan Clegg’s move to the Hub as executive news editor. Joshua Robinson is currently acting editor.
Separately, Larry Rout and his Special Projects team will now report to Aja Whitaker-Moore.
Inevitably, a restructure of this scale means saying goodbye to valued friends and colleagues. I want to thank all of those departing for their dedication to the Journal.
These newsroom changes build on our audience-first strategy. By breaking down the legacy silos of physical print sections, we are empowering our editors to produce “platform-agnostic” journalism that delights and surprises our readers every day of the week.
Please join me in congratulating Sarah, Heather and the entire team on their new roles.
Emma
