Wall Street Journal feels the pain

A decline in advertising and promised job cuts has The Wall Street Journal feeling some pain, writes Joe Pompeo of Politico.

Pompeo writes, “No surprise then that the newsroom is on edge after receiving notice of a ‘restructuring.’ It will involve a ‘revised version of the print Journal’ that editor in chief Gerry Baker — in a memo to journalists already beaten down by a relentless push for shorter stories — said will be ‘sharper and more concise’ while necessitating ‘some consolidation of sections of the paper and the teams that produce it.’

“Among employees there’s widespread chatter that Greater New York — a metro section established with great fanfare in 2010, which was designed to place the Journal on a more clearly competitive footing with its broadsheet competitor The New York Times — ‘will be the first to go,’ and that Personal Journal could follow. (A Journal source with knowledge of the plans said the coverage those sections do would not be eliminated.) Rumors that Baker himself could be on the way out — joining Murdoch at Fox News perhaps? — can’t be helping matters. (A source close to Baker said the rumors are bunk.)

“Further dampening morale is the fact that hundreds of union members have been working without a contract for the past month, as talks between the Independent Association of Publishers Employees and Dow Jones management remain deadlocked over pay raises and healthcare costs. A few dozen newsroom staffers met recently to consider sending a message to management through collective actions like a picket or a mass walkout.”

Read more here.