Assessing the WSJ shakeup

Andrew Clark of The Guardian takes a look in Monday’s paper at the rapid changes at The Wall Street Journal that resulted last week in an overhaul of its editorial management.

Clark writes, “Among WSJ staff, views are split but the atmosphere is tense. When Rebekah Wade appeared in the newsroom last month, a rumour began circulating that the editor of the Sun was about to be appointed to run the Journal. ‘The jury is out – views are divided, depending on people’s backgrounds and what jobs they’re in,’ says a reporter. ‘There are a lot of rumours about all kinds of things. Certain people are frustrated, a few are worried about their jobs.’

“Efforts are being made to reassure the troops. Thomson’s newly appointed lieutenants — Matt Murray, Nikhil Deogun and Mike Williams — are long-serving Journal hands. In a memo describing the changes, Thomson said that Alix Freedman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, would be given ‘expanded authority as a defender of the paper’s ethical and journalistic standards.’

“The IAPE is keeping an open mind, pointing out that Murdoch is talking about recruiting journalists while rivals, such as the New York Times and Sam Zell’s Tribune group, are making cuts to cope with weak advertising. On the Journal’s shifts in coverage, Yount points out that changes at newspapers always provoke protests. ‘Some people are still upset that they put colour on the front page, that they reduced the width of the paper [in early 2007] and eliminated one of the columns,’ he says.”

Read more here.