WSJ staffers want changes in race, policy and business coverage

The Wall Street Journal staffers have been pressing newsroom leaders to make fundamental changes in how the newspaper covers race, policing, business and other topics, reports Marc Tracy and Ben Smith of the New York Times.

Tracy and Smith report, “In a June 23 letter to the editor in chief, Matt Murray, a group identifying itself only as ‘members of the WSJ newsroom’ said the paper must ‘encourage more muscular reporting about race and social inequities,’ and laid out detailed proposals for revising its news coverage.

“‘In part because WSJ’s coverage has focused historically on industries and leadership ranks dominated by white men, many of our newsroom practices are inadequate for the present moment,’ the letter said.

“Among its proposals: Mr. Murray should appoint journalists to cover ‘race, ethnicity and inequality’; name two standards editors specializing in diversity; conduct a study of the race, ethnicity and gender breakdown of the subjects of The Journal’s ‘most prominent and resource-intensive stories’; and bring more diversity to the newsroom and leadership positions.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.