Brauchli named new ME at Wall Street Journal, replacing Steiger

Marcus W. Brauchli, 45, will become the Wall Street Journal’s new managing editor, replacing Paul Steiger, according to a news release.

Brauchli, who joined Dow Jones in 1984 and is a Columbia University graduate, will report to L. Gordon Crovitz, executive vice president of Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of the Journal. The change will occur on May 15.

The ME’s position at the Journal is considered the most powerful in business journalism. The Journal won two Pulitzer Prizes earlier this week. However, the parent company is currently negotiating on a new contract with the union that represents most of its journalists, and the paper recently underwent a redesign.

Dow Jones corporate policy states that all senior managers must retire at the end of the year of their 65th birthday. Steiger, 64, must retire from Dow Jones no later than Dec. 31, 2007.

“Paul is one of the great leaders in the history of business journalism, and his leadership has resulted in The Wall Street Journal going from strength to strength. He took the Journal to a four-section newspaper from a two-section newspaper, redesigned the U.S., Asia and Europe editions, launched the critically successful Weekend Edition andhelped build the Wall Street Journal Online into the largest subscription news site on the Web,” said Crovitz in the release. “Paul’s impact on the Journal will benefit readers and inspire our newsroom for generations.”

All editors of The Journal, the Wall Street Journal Online, the Wall Street Journal Asia and the Wall Street Journal Europe will continue to report to the managing editor, Brauchli, who will set direction and develop news policies for the Journal franchise.

“Marcus Brauchli is a superb journalist, who reported for Dow Jones Newswires and the Journal from more than 20 countries, and as global news editor oversaw Journal coverage from stock-market downturns to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,” said Crovitz. “More recently, as a deputy managing editor under Mr. Steiger, Mr. Brauchli led the news department in the highly successful Journal redesign that launched earlier this year, giving us great confidence that the Journal in print and online will thrive by continuing to engage readers with distinctive, only-in-the-Journal coverage.”

Last month, Talking Biz News speculated that Brauchli was leading the pack in the race to be the next ME. His main competition for the job was Larry Ingrassia, who runs Dow Jones Newswires.

Read the release here.