WSJ editor Thomson and his role in using Sulzberger photo

Jeff Bercovici of DailyFinance.com writes that Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson played a role in using New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.‘s photo in an illustration in the paper.

Bercovici writes, “Thomson acknowledged, to the Observer if not directly to Sulzberger, that it was indeed Sulzberger’s chin and cheeks in the photo mosaic. But what he hasn’t acknowledged publicly is that the very idea of using the illustration to tweak Sulzberger was his from the start — and that it wasn’t a popular one among his Journal subordinates, who aren’t used to seeing their news pages used to carry out Murdoch’s personal feuds (unlike, say, their counterparts at the New York Post).

“Multiple Journal sources supplied both of these details. The reaction, they said, when Thomson ordered a photo of Sulzberger added to the collage ranged from discouragement to horror to sheer bafflement. One source close to the situation stressed that Thomson has a dry, sometimes inscrutable sense of humor that frequently confuses his underlings and leaves them wondering whether or not a suggestion of his was in earnest. That ambiguity could have contributed to misunderstanding in this case: If it’s true that the mosaic was meant to represent all sorts of male features, not just effeminate ones, as Thomson told the Observer, then where, exactly, was the humor in including Sulzberger?

“Alas, Thomson declined to comment on any of this to DailyFinance. That leaves Sulzberger’s account of their conversation to stand more or less unchallenged — and leaves Thomson looking like he’s man enough to call someone else a lady-man behind his back but not quite man enough to say it to his face.”