Wall Street Journal to start new hub desk to put out paper

The Wall Street Journal is starting its new hub desk next week, changing how the paper is put together every day.

Here is the internal memo from deputy managing editors Matt Murray, Mike Williams and Nik Deogun:

“The first of our new desks, the News Hub, starts operating on Monday, Sept. 8. The hub will be the central nervous system of the new newsroom, where the daily sked and layouts are coordinated, where art and graphics come together, where the Journal’s many editions — wsj.com, the Asia and Europe papers and the US Journal — are assembled and where Journal editors interact with our colleagues from Dow Jones Newswires and Marketwatch.

In the coming weeks, the subject desks — National News, International News, Corporate News and Markets News — will take shape around the hub and begin to edit all stories for all platforms in their coverage areas and sections. We also are changing our schedules, planning meetings and other processes to take better advantage of the Journal’s and Dow Jones’s resources, to streamline our editing process and bring real-time editing for wsj.com and other platforms closer to the center of our operations. We’ll be sending you further updates in the weeks ahead, including a complete guide to the new newsroom.

To kick off the hub, we have a few personnel announcements to make:

–Starting Monday, Sheila Courter will become the Day Editor and Hub Desk Chief. In this role, Sheila will play a central role in setting up our new newsroom. She will oversee the sked and layouts, coordinate with the desks and advertising department and help set our daily news menu. Many of you know Sheila from her roles as the deputy copy desk chief and before that as a Page 1 slot, both roles in which she demonstrated her leadership, organizational and editing skills. Sheila will report to Matt and Nik.

–Later this fall, Mike Boone, currently the copy desk chief, will become Copy Chief on the hub, also reporting to Nik and Matt. Mike will be responsible for style and editing quality across all Journal platforms, and will work closely with the new desks to ensure that Journal editing standards are upheld and enhanced, roles he is eminently qualified to fill with his leadership abilities and excellent news judgment and high standards.

—Tim Hanrahan, currently a deputy national editor, will take on an enhanced role in the newly created role of Day Editor of wsj.com. A veteran of the old wsj.com who has worked on the news desk for the last year, Tim will be the prime conduit between the new subject desks and wsj.com, and overseer of the front news pages on the site. With his mix of news judgment, knowledge of the web and editing and leadership abillity, Tim is well-suited for this vital job as we continue, with a redesigned wsj.com, to build our online presence and integrate online and print fully. Tim reports to Almar and to Matt and Nik.

Please join us in congratulating Sheila, Mike and Tim in their important new roles. All three will be at the center of the Journal’s effort to transform our editing operations and expand our reach.