WSJ names new Atlanta bureau chief

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson sent out the following e-mail to the staff Monday morning:

“I am delighted to announce that Betsy McKay is our new Atlanta Bureau Chief. She has been deputy chief in the bureau since October 2008 and has worked as a reporter in Georgia for nearly a decade, covering Coca-Cola’s boardroom tussles, the Sars crisis, avian flu, and the latest threat to humankind’s very being (and source of endless Most Popular stories), swine flu. She will continue to develop our vivid reporting of the region, which is of particular interest as the country copes with an economic downturn that is having a profound impact on its character, culturally, commercially and politically.

“Betsy joined the Journal in 1996 as a reporter in the Moscow bureau after several years writing in Russia for The Moscow Times, Newsweek and other publications. Fluent in Russian, she was a member of a team of Journal reporters awarded the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for in-depth analytical coverage of the Russian financial crisis. Her innate understanding of the byzantine nature of Russian government has prepared her well for her role as a chief. She will report to Matt Murray in her new position — please join me in congratulating Betsy.”

McKay replaces Douglas Blackmon.