The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday announced details of a broad editorial reorganization as part of its “WSJ2020” review, creating a new leadership structure with the aim of transforming the 128-year-old newspaper into a mobile-first news operation, reports Lukas Alpert of the Journal.
Alpert writes, “The Journal’s current deputy editor in chief, Matt Murray, will become executive editor with an expanded role in day-to-day news decisions. Editor in Chief Gerard Baker will continue to oversee news coverage and drive strategy.
“In a memo to staff, Mr. Baker said the ‘far-reaching reorganization’ wasn’t a ‘job-cutting exercise’ and that the newsroom’s head count of about 1,300 positions would remain ‘roughly stable.’
“As resources dramatically shift toward digital and mobile initiatives, some existing roles could be eliminated, forcing some people to find other positions within the company.
“‘Our news operations have been somewhat like an elegant and rather gorgeous stately home, whose owners have steadily augmented and renovated, rewiring every now and then, adding a new plumbing system, repainting, refurbishing,’ Mr. Baker said. ‘But eventually it’s time to tear down the old structure and build a new one.’
“‘The pace of change, the proliferating adoption of new technology, the changing way in which our audience consumes news and information: all require something much more,’ said Mr. Baker, who has been editor in chief since 2013.
“The restructuring creates a number of new senior newsroom roles. Mr. Baker’s new reports will include editors for professional news, digital content strategy, strategic initiatives and a managing editor responsible for non-news matters such as finance and personnel. There also will be an editor of features, special content and events.
“New roles such as chief news editor, news planning editor and analytics and audience editor will report to Mr. Murray, who will continue to report to Mr. Baker.”
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