WSJ editorial committee meets to discuss ME resignation

Wall Street Journal reporter Sam Schechner reports that the editorial committee created to ensure independence of the newspaper’s journalism while owned by News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch is meeting to discuss the expected resignation of managing editor Marcus Brauchli after just 11 months leading the paper.

Schechner wrote, “The purpose of the call isn’t clear. While the committee has to approve hiring of a new managing editor, the agreement covering its creation says nothing about its role if the editor resigns. The committee was created in a negotiation between News Corp. and Dow Jones leading up to last year’s sale. (See the text of the agreement.)

“Thomas Bray, chairman of the special committee, declined to comment on the meeting, and referred a reporter to an article the committee published in the Journal in December. In that piece, the committee says ‘The central challenge to the committee will be to distinguish between change and practices that might threaten Dow Jones’ well-earned reputation for calling things as it sees them.’

“The agreement creating the Special Committee grants the group approval over the ‘Appointment and removal’ of three top editors at Dow Jones publications. The covered employees, who are named in the agreement, are Mr. Brauchli, the Journal’s managing editor; Paul Gigot, editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page; and Neal Lipschutz, managing editor of Dow Jones Newswires.”