Baker named new ME of Wall Street Journal

Dow Jones & Co. announced Monday the appointment of Gerard Baker as editor-in-chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

Baker is currently deputy editor-in-chief of The Journal, a role he has held since January 2009, and succeeds Robert Thomson, who has been named chief executive officer of the new proposed publishing entity for News Corp.

“The Journal’s growth has exceeded even the most optimistic of expectations because of the extraordinary men and women who fill our newsrooms,” said Lex Fenwick, chief executive officer of Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of The Journal, in a statement. “Gerry Baker’s extensive background across digital and print, as well as publications and geographies, has helped shape the Journal’s coverage during his time as Deputy Editor-in-Chief. I am thrilled to work with him as he builds on Robert Thomson’s fantastic work to steer us to even greater heights.”

“Gerry has had a distinguished career that included a stint at the Bank of England, and a celebrated journalistic past at the BBC, the Financial Times and The Times, and I expect him to have an even more successful future as editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones,” said Thomson in a statement. “His international experience and his background in broadcasting will both be crucial editorial assets as the Journal and Newswires continue their ambitious global and digital expansion.”

Added Baker, “I am honored and excited beyond words to be given the opportunity to lead the finest team in journalism. It has been a joy and an education to be a member of the Dow Jones newsroom these last four years, and I am acutely conscious of what an extraordinary privilege and profound responsibility it is to be Editor-in-Chief. I am ineffably grateful to and admiring of Robert Thomson for all he has done for Dow Jones over the last five years. I look forward to playing my part in our continued success.”

The Dow Jones Special Committee, whose approval of a new editor-in-chief is required under an agreement formed at the time of the acquisition of Dow Jones by News Corp. in late 2007, has unanimously endorsed Baker’s appointment.

In a statement, the committee noted that Mr. Baker “assured the committee of his commitment to the Journal’s ethical standards and to the continued clear separation of news and opinion within the newspaper and Dow Jones Newswires.”