WSJ/Dow Jones names deputy Italy bureau chief

Alessandra Galloni, the Southern Europe bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following staff announcement on Thursday:

We are very pleased to announce that Christopher Emsden has been promoted to deputy bureau chief in the joint Italy Wall Street Journal-Dow Jones Newswires bureau.

As deputy to Alessandra Galloni, Christopher is stepping up at a time of intense interest in Italy’s role at the heart of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis – a crisis that has brought a spectacular end to the rule of Silvio Berlusconi, ushered in a period of austerity and made Italy the critical juncture of Europe’s economic future. Christopher will keep writing on the Italian economy and will also help lead and shape broader coverage of the country.

Christopher has been working at Dow Jones Newswires since late 2002, covering Italian equities and later pan-European macroeconomic and central bank news. Over the past two years, as DJN’s chief Italian economics writer, he has worked tirelessly to cover the country’s financial and political woes, breaking stories and writing insightful analyses on the government’s failed attempts at economic policy reform, the rising pressure on Italy from its European peers and the dramatic change of administration in November.

Previous to Dow Jones Newswires, Christopher worked at the International Herald Tribune, covering Italian artistic matters; the New York Times, where he copy edited the TV guide and subsequently foreign stories; and a Spanish architecture magazine in Madrid. Christopher is an anthropology graduate of Reed College.