Pearson leaving WSJ/Dow Jones after 30+ years in Paris

David Pearson, an automotive and aerospace reporter for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, is leaving the news organization at the end of the week.

In an email to his colleagues, Pearson writes:

Yes, I’m shuffling off to begin a new life, perhaps of leisure, perhaps not if I get bored. I’ve probably set some kind of company record for longevity in the same location. But I  reckoned it was time to hang up my spurs and take off my gloves (I was never very good at mixing metaphors) and make way for a younger generation of newshounds who believe in – and understand – social media (it’s the future, boys and girls).  It’s been a long road with some bumps and often uphill, but always exciting. However, this fast-moving job requires a bigger engine than my wheezing two-cylinder steamer (those metaphors again..). I’ve already received dozens of messages, some from people that I haven’t seen literally for decades, and I thank you all dearly. We work in a fabulous profession, and we’re privileged to be part of it.

Pearson was the Paris bureau chief for Dow Jones from 1983 to 1997, joining the news organization after an eight-year stint with the Associated Press in Paris. From 1997 to 2001, he wrote EurOpinion, a tongue-in-cheek column for Dow Jones Newswires looking at the European economy and the financial diplomacy scene.

He began his career at the International Herald Tribune.