Categories: OLD Media Moves

WSJ posts editorial agreement between Dow Jones and News Corp.

The agreement that is supposed to protect journalists at The Wall Street Journal from interference by News Corp. executives if the company acquires Dow Jones & Co., the newspaper’s parent, has been posted on the paper’s Web site Friday night.

Here’s the good stuff:

The authority of the managing editor and the editorial page editor of the WSJ and the managing editor of Newswires (unless, in the case of the managing editor of Newswires, he or she reports to the managing editor of the WSJ) will include:

• the power to hire and remove subordinates within their respective publications and operations, consistent with departmental budgets,

• control over spending and allocation of resources within departmental budgets set by N Corp management following discussion with the relevant editor; the decisions of N Corp on departmental budgets will be final.”

Later, it states more powers for the editors that included:

  • The managing editor of the WSJ would be consulted prior to the use of the WSJ or Dow Jones brand names by N Corp or any other party to give the managing editor the opportunity to raise any objections to and suggestions concerning the proposed use of the brand. The decisions of N Corp on branding matters would be final.Â
  • In the case of the managing editors, authority over use of staff by advertisers and other business,Â
  • In the case of the WSJ editorial page editor (1) authority to choose the editorial board members, the opinion columnists, the op-ed section editor and the editors of the book review, the Leisure & Arts section, OpinionJournal.com and the Far Eastern Economic Review, (2) final say over the positions taken by the editorial page and (3) authority over the selection of op-ed pieces. The editorial page editor would continue to report to the WSJ publisher,Â
  • N Corp agrees that the following persons will be retained on their positions following closing, Marcus Brauchli (WSJ managing editor), Paul Gigot (WSJ editorial page editor) and Neal Lipschutz (Newswires managing editor)

Read more here.

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.

Recent Posts

Is this the end of CoinDesk as we know it?

Former CoinDesk editorial staffer Michael McSweeney writes about the recent happenings at the cryptocurrency news site, where…

10 hours ago

LinkedIn finance editor Singh departs

Manas Pratap Singh, finance editor for LinkedIn News Europe, has left for a new opportunity…

2 days ago

Washington Post announces start of third newsroom

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent out the following on Friday: Dear All, Over the last…

3 days ago

FT hires Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels

The Financial Times has hired Barbara Moens to cover competition and tech in Brussels. She will start…

3 days ago

Deputy tech editor Haselton departs CNBC for The Verge

CNBC.com deputy technology editor Todd Haselton is leaving the news organization for a job at The Verge.…

3 days ago

“Power Lunch” co-anchor Tyler Mathisen is leaving CNBC

Note from CNBC Business News senior vice president Dan Colarusso: After more than 27 years…

3 days ago