In Murdoch’s Biggest Move to Date: WSJ Managing Editor Steps Down

April 22nd, 2008

By Kyle Austin

There have been musical chairs between bureaus, reports of changing style and a scheduled change of address.

However, all of the above fail in comparison to Mr. Murdoch’s latest WSJ move. Marcus W. Brauchli, the top editor at the Wall Street Journal, officially resigned on Tuesday after reports surfaced on Monday via Time.com that he would be handing in his resignation letter by Thursday.

That may or may not have led to an accelerated appointment today with the newly formed committee overseeing editorial integrity of the paper - post Rupert purchase – and the formal handing over of his resignation letter that followed.

Brauchli confirmed his departure through a statement on Tuesday:

“I am proud to have been part of this exceptionally talented team,” Brauchli said in his resignation letter. “But now that the ownership transition has taken place, I have come to believe the new owners should have a managing editor of their choosing.”

Brauchli, maybe somewhat surprisingly, has agreed to stay on as a consultant to News Group. Although the move is certainly a headline catcher, the writing has seemingly been on the wall for Brauchli, since former Times of London Editor Robert Thomson made the move to the WSJ as publisher at the beginning of last year. According to insiders, Thompson had taken over the publisher role along with seemingly overseeing the editorial side of things since joining the executive staff.

Not surprisingly then - Thompson will step into the interim role as managing editor – which some certainly believe will become his permanent position in the rather near future.

Entry Filed under: Mainstream media