WSJ editing staff being asked to apply for new jobs

Jason Anders, chief news editor at The Wall Street Journal, and Steve Wisnefski, editor of professional news, sent out the following message to the staff on Tuesday:

All,

We’d like to give you additional information about the reorganization of our editing operations that Gerry has just announced. We’re confident that the changes can allow you to excel in your areas of strength, with greater clarity of your responsibilities and accountability, and will produce better journalism for our readers and viewers.

In this reorganization, each of you will be asked to consider on which desk you’d most like to work and in what role, and we’ll provide you with information and discussions to help inform your decisions. You will need to apply for the positions in which you’re interested because your current roles won’t exist in the future. The leaders of the desks will then match up their wants and needs with yours and will speak with you in interviews.

As Gerry mentioned earlier, there will be four editing teams:

• The Publishing Desk under Lex Kaptik will work closely with coverage chiefs to edit and publish all WSJ copy for wires, web and print. These editors will meet and maintain the Journal’s high standards through precise and concise editing, sharp and informative headlines and distinctive presentation on breaking and top news of the day, plus in-depth features and graphics.
• The Newswires Desk under Glenn Hall will focus on producing more of the actionable content that is essential to financial professionals. The team will quickly and expertly write, edit and publish items on the topics that matter most to DJN subscribers, in the formats they find most useful. Based on a deep understanding of the needs of DJN users, the Newswires Desk will also be a center for innovation in the packaging and presentation of news, analysis and data.
• The Print Desk under Tim Layer will work specifically on preparing the sterling pages, packages and sections our print readers expect. In a change from the current structure, this desk will no longer have dedicated article editors; all article editors will work on the Publishing Desk, though some will take on article edits specific to print later in the day. The desk will be focused on producing the page, headlines, captions, etc.
• The Digital Platforms team under Jenn Hicks will work on pages, packages, alerts and other content to attract audiences on mobile, desktop and emerging platforms. This team will be adept at presentation, in tune with our audience groups and plugged into the capabilities of all the newsroom tools.

Matt, Karen, Lex, Tim, Jenn and the two of us will be holding a series of information sessions today and tomorrow in the Central Park conference room to discuss these changes and how the jobs will be filled. The presentation at all of these meetings will be the same; please attend at whatever time is convenient for you and your manager:

1 p.m. Tuesday (Hangout)

4:30 p.m. Tuesday (Hangout)

10 a.m. Wednesday (Hangout)

So what happens next?

FIRST: We want to make sure you know what roles we will have in the new structure.

You can find information about the news jobs here.

We will be holding four short “open house” sessions in Central Park, one for each of the new desks, so you can hear from the hiring manager about how each desk will work, what its responsibilities will be and the skills and attributes they will be looking for during the hiring process. Please feel free to join any or all:

• Newswires Open House with Glenn Hall – 12 p.m. Wednesday (Hangout)
• Publishing Desk Open House with Lex Kaptik – 12:30 p.m. Wednesday (Hangout)
• Print Desk Open House with Tim Layer – 1 p.m. Wednesday (Hangout)
• Platforms Desk Open House with Jennifer Hicks – 4:30 p.m. Wednesday (Hangout)

THEN: We need to know what jobs you’re most interested in.

Please stop by Kate Ortega‘s desk today and pencil yourself in for a 10-minute preferences discussion with Kate, Marie Beaudette, Lex or Steve. These discussions will be held Thursday, Friday and Monday and will be a chance for you to tell us which of the new jobs you’re most interested in and any shift-schedule preferences you want us to try to take into account.

After that discussion, or before, we also need you to formally apply for the jobs you want, by following the instructions and the relevant links on this site.

Note: You must take this step to formally apply for the positions.

AND THEN: We’ll use your applications and your stated preferences to proceed with the interview and hiring process.

We’ll try our best to keep the short-term disruptions to a minimum. We all have jobs to do while we’re undergoing this restructuring. Thank you in advance for your help and enthusiasm in making this a success.

Sincerely,

Jason and Steve