If News Corp. splits, does that mean layoffs or hiring freeze at WSJ?

Lucia Moses of Adweek examines the ramifications of the print media within News Corp., including The Wall Street Journal, if the company splits in half.

Moses writes, “For now, attention has focused on the increased financial pressure its newspapers will likely face as a stand-alone operation without the benefit of the funds its entertainment business can pour into them.

“Already, layoff jitters are spreading throughout the print business, which includes the vaunted Wall Street Journal plus papers in the U.K. and Australia, where properties are already preparing for cuts.

“There’s a lot of worry about that because all the publishing assets have been protected’ by the rest of the company, one Dow Jones staffer fretted.

“Journal parent Dow Jones & Co., under new CEO Lex Fenwick, has already started trimming. Just days ago it announced it would fold SmartMoney, the 20-year-old personal finance magazine, and expand the brand digitally, cutting 25 people in the process.”

Read more here. Talking Biz News heard Wednesday from one Dow Jones editorial staffer who said that there are discussions among the staff abouut the potential for a hiring freeze if the split occurs.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.