WSJ walkout secretly planned for days

Richard Perez-Pena of The New York Times writes Thursday afternoon that the walkout staged this morning by Wall Street Journal reporters and editors had been secretly planned for days.

Perez-Pena wrote, “It is not clear how many reporters participated in the action, or how it affected the Journal’s operation. The newspaper’s Web site continued to post articles on breaking news, some of them written by reporters who work for the online operation or for Dow Jones Newswires reporters, who were not included in the job action. But in calls to several Journal reporters, most of them said they had not gone to work today.

“‘We’re not asking anybody to stop doing their jobs or blow off a story,’ said E. S. Browning, a reporter and chairman of the contract bargaining committee of the union, the Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees. ‘The goal is to convey the depth of this feeling about the threat to the newspaper, and the fact that we’re still demanding a fair contract.’

“Many Dow Jones reporters and editors have said they fear that News Corporation would water down and politicize the serious journalism the company is known for, and people at other news organizations say they have seen an increase in the number of Journal reporters inquiring about jobs.”

Read more here.