FRESH BRAUCHLI
Putting an end to months of rumors over who would take over as the top editor of The Wall Street Journal when Paul Steiger retires this year, Dow Jones & Co. announced yesterday that deputy Marcus Brauchli will be awarded the job.
Brauchli, who joined Dow Jones’ newswire operations in 1984 and worked as a foreign correspondent for the Journal, was appointed one of Steiger’s deputies in December 2005, putting him firmly in a pack of editors in the succession race.
Steiger, who turns 65 later this year, must retire no later than the end of the year under Dow Jones policy.
Insiders said the race seemed to narrow down last year to Brauchli and Paul Ingrassia, a Pulitzer-Prize winner and longtime head of the company’s newswire business who was promoted to head up company-wide news strategy.
Brauchli, 45, was widely believed by insiders to be Steiger’s preferred choice, while Ingrassia, 56, was said to be the top pick of Dow Jones Publisher Gordon Crovitz.
Wall Street Journal journalists worried that Ingrassia, known for running a tight ship at Dow Jones Newswires, would be charged with cutting costs at the fiscally challenged newspaper.
Dow Jones announced Brauchli’s appointment on the same day angry reporters at the Journal gave new chief Rich Zannino – the first non-journalist to head the company – an earful at Dow Jones’ annual meeting yesterday.
Calling him an “outsider,” reporters complained that Zannino was awarded a big pay increase when he took over as CEO last year, while employees were being offered what amounts to pay cuts.
“Dow Jones’ managers have been trying to wring profits out of the employees for years now,” said Michael M. Phillips, a Journal war correspondent based in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Former Dow Jones Chairman Peter Kann, who is retiring after 43 years at the company, said he sees no basis to claims by the reporters that quality is being undermined by cuts.
Brauchli will take over as managing editor on May 15 and report to Crovitz.
Steiger, who led the Journal to 16 Pulitzers during his 16-year tenure as managing editor, will serve as editor at large until he retires at the end of the year.