News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch has installed his associate Robert Thomson as the new managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, one of America's most prestigious business newspapers. News Corp announced Wednesday the appointment of Thomson, who was previously the editor of The Times of London which is also owned by News Corp.
The move comes after the Journal's previous top editor, Marcus Brauchli, resigned in late April. Thomson, who has worked in the newspaper business since 1979, has also been appointed as the editor-in-chief of Dow Jones, the News Corp-owned company that publishes the Journal. His appointments are effective immediately.
Murdoch's News Corp took over Dow Jones in a 5.16-billion-dollar deal in December of last year amid resistance from some Journal staff to the deal. A report in the Journal, which is America's second-largest newspaper after USA Today by circulation, said Thomson's appointment is "expected to speed the pace of change" at the Journal as News Corp extends its operational control over the paper.
Murdoch, who agreed to guarantee the Journal's editorial independence when he acquired Dow Jones, has been quick to make management changes at the newly-acquired media group. Analysts say Murdoch wants the Journal to compete more vigorously with other large US newspapers such as The New York Times.
Thomson is expected to make the Journal "newsier" and plans are already in the works to launch a quarterly luxury magazine in September which will be edited by another Times veteran, Tina Gaudoin, according to the Journal report. Prior to becoming The Times editor, Thomson worked at the Financial Times newspaper where he was responsible for overhauling the Weekend FT.
Comments
Comments are closed.