WSJ’s Baker delineates newsroom management structure

Wall Street Journal managing editor Gerard Baker sent out the following message to the staff on Tuesday:

We have made great progress as a news organization in the past year:  We’re breaking more news on our Newswires. We’re producing unrivaled global coverage in core areas such as central banks, M&A and technology. Our digital journalism today is stronger than ever. The print paper is vibrant and continues to evolve.

Much work remains. In the coming year, we’ll continue our drive to break news and offer unique analysis to readers and users on all platforms. We’ll further modernize our storytelling. And we will push hard to aggressively expand our global audience. To help focus those efforts and to provide a clear framework for executing on all fronts, I wanted to update and delineate the contours of our senior editorial structure:

Matt Murray will oversee news publishing on all platforms, including Newswires, wsj.com, mobile and print.  The real-time desk, the home-page management team, the mobile news production team will each report to him. As part of editing for all platforms, Matt and the team will shape the global news agenda throughout the day.

Rebecca Blumenstein will oversee our coverage chiefs and our bureaux world-wide. She’s responsible for setting the coverage agenda for reporters around the globe. All coverage chiefs will report to her.

Almar Latour will oversee editorial product, news strategy and development for all platforms. Among other things, he will run digital development and operations for the Journal, mobile, professional news products and MarketWatch. His group will work closely with our colleagues on the business side to develop our strategic initiatives.

Matt, Rebecca and Almar will continue to collaborate closely on all fronts. As before, Matt will oversee the newspaper in my absence. In addition, Matt, Rebecca and Almar will trade off running the paper when required.

The news landscape is evolving rapidly.   We have the resources and the talent to succeed and excel even as we adapt to the new demands we face.  As we work with the business side to develop new products and improve and refine existing ones, I am confident that we will meet the challenges and continue to produce the most valuable news and information for an expanding global audience.