WSJ names new media & tech head

Merissa Marr has been named the bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal‘s media and technology team, according to an internal memo Thursday from managing editor Robert Thomson.

She succeeds Rich Turner, who became head of the team in 2004. Turner is becoming arts and entertainment editor for WSJ.com.

Thomson writes, “Merissa joined the team at the end of 2007 as a senior special writer covering corporate media after a stint in Los Angeles, where she covered Disney and the movie business.

“Before joining the Journal in 2003, she toiled at Reuters, starting as a graduate trainee, then working as a reporter in the Milan and Madrid bureaus covering areas as diverse as crime and politics, laced with telcos and fashion. She is a journalistic omnivore uniquely suited to the multifarious themes of contemporary media.”

In another internal memo to the staff, Thomson wrote about Turner: “Rich will play a key role in expanding our arts and entertainment news coverage online, providing readers with a lively and robust presence in movies, television, books, music, art, videogames, art,
theater, and more.

“He will oversee a small team of reporters and call upon the Weekend staff, the Media and Technology group, the Los Angeles bureau and other creative types — the news coverage will supplement the excellent leisure and arts coverage provided to the newspaper by the editorial page staff. Rich will work closely with WSJ.com deputy managing editor Kevin Delaney, and Marisa Wong, the online Life & Style editor.”