Categories: OLD Media Moves

Former WSJ staffers comment on the paper under Murdoch

Joe Strupp of Media Matters for America writes Monday about the exodus from The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires in light of the recent hirings at Reuters that brought in former top editors from both shops.

Most of the former WSJ and Dow Jones staffers that Strupp talked to were quoted off the record, but he did have an interested comment from the head of the union that represents its journalists.

Strupp wrote, “Steve Yount, president of the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees Local 1096, the union that represents most Journal newsroom employees, said there is a feeling among rank and file that the paper has changed:

“‘The move away from long-form journalism is a disappointment to a great number of people, it is certainly a disappointment to me,’ Yount said. ‘The Wall Street Journal today is not what the paper was five years ago, it is not what it was 10 years ago.’

“Auletta, who spoke to Media Matters after his New Yorker piece was published, said some of the exodus has slowed, but may ramp up again with Reuters and Bloomberg expanding.

“‘Is it possible that it will speed up with a former Journal person like Steve Adler at the helm at Reuters and a former Journal person like [New York Times Managing Editor] Jill Abramson at the helm?’ he asked. ‘Reuters comes along and Reuters is actually growing as is Bloomberg. So you say, ‘I am at a place that is not very profitable, as the Journal isn’t, even though Murdoch put money in, and he is 80 years old and what follows him? Maybe my career is better served by moving to Reuters.””