Dow Jones Newswires South Asia bureau chief Sumathi Vaidyanathan sent out the following announcement to the staff on Monday:
“Dow Jones is looking for a chief to head Australia and New Zealand.
“The four bureaus together have 18 reporters who write for both Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
“The successful candidate will identify and drive coverage for all platforms, tracking everything from the Aussie, the Kiwi, and central bank speak to the muscle flexing by mining heavyweights such as BHP and Rio Tinto and the impact of milk prices on the farmer owners of Fonterra, New Zealand’s dairy giant.
“The region has yielded some of the hottest stories of the year.
“Australia’s valuable mines have drawn covetous interest from China and the tangle between the two countries, intensified by nationalistic pride and jaw boning, peaked when China arrested four Rio Tinto executives. A related development – the challenge to the established system of pricing iron ore – continues to confound companies and trade relations.
“New Zealand plays a key role in the global trading cycle. The Wellington bureau picks up the baton from New York, monitoring major currency movements that are often influenced by overnight events such as a G8 meet or an unfolding debt crisis in the Western world.
“The focus of the bureau chief’s job will be to maximize scoops, especially market-moving ones, and craft stories for the paper.
“We are seeking a hard-working, competitive leader with substantial reporting and some managerial experience who can work with colleagues across various time zones. Editing ability is a must as is guiding and mentoring a disparate team. Needless to say, the job is based in salubrious Sydney.”
