NYT topping WSJ by stealing staff

Ryan Chittum of Columbia Journalism Review believes that the New York Times, with its hiring of respected business journalists Susanne Craig and Peter Lattman from The Wall Street Journal, is winning the war between the two papers.

Chittum writes, “Those two hires are part of a major expansion of DealBook from eight journalists to twenty, which the Journal itself reported in June.

“So not only is the Journal losing some of its best talent, but they’re going to a direct competitor looking to encroach directly on its turf — and one that’s making the smarter moves. While the Journal is pouring resources into non-business coverage, sometimes at the expense of its raison d’etre, the Times and DealBook editor Andrew Ross Sorkin sense an opening and are making their own move. Rupert may yet get outfoxed in this chess match.

“You can place some of this outside the context of the Times battle, too. Lots of big names have been leaving the paper. As one person notes in an email to us, the DC bureau alone has lost Greg Ip, Greg Hitt, Greg Jaffe, Peter Spiegel, Yochi Dreazen, Susan Davis, and Fawn Johnson in the last year or so.

“That’s a lot of great journalists to lose in so short a time — and in one bureau.”

Read more here.