Talking Biz
Union: No one at WSJ being encouraged to accept buyout offer
by Chris Roush
The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, the union that represents business journalists at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, posted the following clarification about the recent buyouts being offered to reporters:
Last week, we passed along (and clarified) news that Dow Jones had offered “buyouts” to certain employees. Since then, we have received a number of questions from IAPE members wondering about separation packages, and we have gone back to management with some questions of our own.
We have a little more news for you today regarding voluntary departures — including a brief explanation why the Company decided to make offers available at all. Here’s the latest:
1) Buyout chatter began after a senior manager asked all bureau chiefs to inform their staffs that buyouts were available. Only a few location managers passed that information along to all employees, while others either ignored the news or only reached out to individuals they thought might be eligible.
2) Buyouts are being offered now because severance packages can be charged to the “old” company prior to the News Corp split, and are available for (maybe) two more weeks.
3) Nobody is being encouraged to accept a buyout — but anybody can request one. Similarly, there is no obligation on the Company’s part to accept all requests — but if you want a buyout, you need to ask.
4) Buyouts are not limited to News departments — wherever you work at Dow Jones, if you have been thinking of leaving and would like to know if there is a separation package on the table, this is your chance to find out.
If you think you might be interested in a voluntary separation, with severance pay and other post-termination benefits, you can either reach out to your manager to find out if a buyout might be available for you, or you can contact IAPE and we’ll reach out to management on your behalf. Simply email IAPE president Bob Kozma, grievance committee chairman Rob Johnson, or organizer Tim Martell. Or contact a member of the IAPE Board of Directors near you, and that IAPE rep will pass your request on to the Union office.
“What About 2013 Pay Raises?”
While we’re writing, we thought it best if we take this opportunity to address another frequently-asked question from IAPE-represented employees: when do we get our raise this year?
Under the terms of the IAPE contract, July 1 is the effective date for wage increases. Eligible employees must receive the larger of three possible pay hikes: a 2% compensatory increase, a $20 per week minimum-dollar increase (for employees currently paid less than $1,000 per week), or a scale increase for employees progressing through our introductory scales.
Of course, managers are always welcome to pay merit increases in excess of the raises required by our contract — there is absolutely nothing in the IAPE/DJ Collective Agreement that would limit any employee’s rate of pay (no matter what some managers might suggest).
LA Biz Journal hires two new reporters
by Chris Roush
The Los Angeles Business Journal has hired two new reporters for its staff, according to an email from managing editor Jonathan Diamond.
Kay Chinn, a recent graduate of master’s program at USC’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, will be covering trade and manufacturing.
Subrina Hudson, also a recent Annenberg master’s graduate, will be covering the local advertising and public relations industries.
Hudson fills a long-vacant spot, and Chinn replaces Ryan Faughnder, who held the same beat.
The Los Angeles Business Journal has an editorial staff of 12 people. It is part of a company that also owns the San Diego Business Journal, the Orange County Business Journal and the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.
The great and powerful Jon Hilsenrath
by Chris Roush
Barbara Kollmeyer of Marketwatch.com writes about recent coverage of the Federal Reserve Board.
Kollmeyer writes, “After all the seriousness about the Fed meeting that kicks off Tuesday, Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research, injects some humor by asking: ‘Who is the Fed Chairman anyway?’
“‘Could it be that Ben Bernanke isn’t actually the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve? He may be fronting for the real wizard behind the curtain: Jon Hilsenrath. A few months ago I signed up for Google news alerts to follow both Bernanke and Hilsenrath. Lately, I’ve been receiving more news about the outlook for monetary policy from Hilsenrath than from Bernanke.’
“Hilsenrath is chief economics reporter for The Wall Street Journal (which, like MarketWatch, is owned by News Corp) and triggered what some are calling a Hilsenrally when he reported last week that the Fed will likely push back on market expectations for a rate rise. Financial Times economics editor Robin Harding briefly joined this crowd Monday when an article he wrote suggested Bernanke will signal Fed tapering at its meeting and press conference this week. Markets fell and eventually recovered after Harding tweeted this:
Read more here.
The six Fed reporters who can make the market go crazy
by Chris Roush
Steven Perlberg lists for Business Insider the six Federal Reserve reporters who can make the markets go crazy.
His top four are:
1. Jon Hilsenrath, The Wall Street Journal;
2. Greg Ip, The Economist;
3. Steve Liesman, CNBC;
4. Binyamin Applebaum, The Washington Post.
About Hilsenrath, Perlberg writes, “The Journal’s Fed reporter recently blogged that he expected the Fed to take a more dovish tone this week, his one cryptic sentence helping gold, stocks, and bonds enjoy a fervent Hilsenrally as markets closed.
“Hilsenrath, the Journal’s D.C. correspondent, has been working at the paper since 1997 and contributed to their Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the Sept. 11th attacks. A mainstay on CNBC, Hilsy reportedly has better access to Ben Bernanke than anyone, so much so that FT Alphaville calls him Fedwire, the news service of the Federal Reserve.”
Read more here.
Florida biz journal hires managing editor
by Chris Roush
Timothy Gibbons, business editor at the Times-Union, is leaving to become managing editor at the Jacksonville Business Journal.
Kate Howard Perry of the Times-Union writes, “Gibbons has been with the Times-Union for 11 years. He will start at the business publication in mid-July.
“‘I look forward to using the skills and experience I’ve developed over more than a decade at the Times-Union at the Business Journal,’ Gibbons said. ‘The Business Journal has ambitious plans, and it will be exciting to be a part of that future.’
“The Jacksonville Business Journal is a weekly print newspaper and daily website, one of 40 owned by American City Business Journals.
“Frank Denton, editor of the Times-Union, said Gibbons is a ‘talented and principled’ journalist who will be missed by the news organization.
“‘We wish him well,’ Denton said.”
Read more here.
WSJ tech reporter is leaving
by Chris Roush
Jessica Lessin, a San Francisco-based senior technology reporter at the Wall Street Journal of several years, is quitting (somewhat abruptly) to launch her own tech website, reports Sam Biddle at Valleywag.
Biddle writes, “It’s unclear how she’ll be funding her new operation — I hear she’ll be taking venture funding — or exactly what the circumstances of her exit are. I was told by a staffer within News Corp. that the announcement of Lessin’s move brought one colleague to ‘tears,’ and that she might’ve been prompted by some internal conflict at the Journal vis-a-vis promotions.
“On the other hand, her marriage to Facebook product wiz Sam Lessin was problematic—you know, ethically.”
Read more here. Since joining the paper in 2005, Lessin has broken some of the technology and media industries’ biggest stories as The Journal’s beat reporter for Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and other leading companies. Currently, she covers Apple Inc. and writes and edits a weekly technology column called “The Valley.”
WSJ names Asia editor for social media
by Chris Roush
Paul Beckett, the Asia editor for The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following staff announcement on Tuesday:
We’re pleased to announce Maya Pope-Chappell has been named Asia editor for social media and analytics with immediate effect.
Maya’s appointment is an important step toward making WSJ’s social media strategy global. She will work closely with social media editors in the U.S. and editors in Asia to build and cultivate audiences across our English-language and local-language sites. She’ll also provide audience analysis and guide regional page managers in their efforts to position and promote news articles and graphics in ways that more deeply engage our online readers. She’ll remain in Hong Kong and continue to report to Asia Desk Chief Emily Veach, with dotted lines to Liz Heron, editor of emerging media for the WSJ and Dow Jones, and Asia Digital Editor Adam Najberg.
Maya joined Dow Jones in 2010 as an assistant web producer for WSJ.com’s Greater New York section. She moved to Hong Kong as an online editor in April 2012, where she managed our regional online editions and took on the added role of expanding our Asia House of the Day offerings. Under Maya’s guidance and through her smart selections, the Asia HOD slideshows have become wildly successful and are regularly one of the most-viewed features on both our English-language and local-language online editions. Maya is a true member of the digirati, writing for blogs, working on our live television shows in Asia and editing video in FinalCut. She began doing analytics and audience assessment for Asia earlier this year.
Maya received her undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2006. She worked briefly in health care before trading it all away for a career in journalism. She moved to New York in 2008 to attend the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where she specialized in multimedia and arts & culture reporting. She is a superior athlete, who competed briefly on the UC Santa Cruz golf team, ran track and field in high school and has been a strong paddler for the two trophy-winning Dow Jones teams in the Sun Life Stanley Dragon Boat Championships in 2012 and 2013. She’s a self-confessed foodie, who also appreciates a fancy cocktail.
NY Daily News real estate writer dies
by Chris Roush
Jason Sheftell, a prolific real estate reporter for the New York Daily News, died this weekend at the age of 46.
Edgar Sandoval and Corky Siemaszko of The Daily News write, “‘He had an enthusiasm and a zest for life that was infectious,’ Myler said. ‘He was probably the most popular guy in the newsroom — everybody loved him because he was always there when you needed him.’
“Sheftell’s ‘dedication to his role as a real estate reporter was legendary,’ Myler added.
“‘He will leave a void that will never be filled in the Daily News family,’ he said. ‘To use his own phrase when his father passed a couple of years ago: ‘He was a good man, with a great heart, and that’s all we can ask of anyone’.’
“Sheftell had been expected at a family gathering over the weekend and when he failed to show his worried kin called The News.
“A Daily News reporter dispatched to Sheftell’s home arrived on the heels of the reporter’s old friend, Kyle Carmon, who had a key to the apartment and found his friend dead.”
Read more here.
Bloomberg View hires McArdle
by Chris Roush
Washington, D.C.-based writer for Newsweek/Daily Beast and blogger Megan McArdle is joining the ranks of Bloomberg View, where she will be a columnist covering the economy, business, politics and national affairs.
Betsy Rothstein of FishbowlDC.com writes, “‘Megan is an extraordinary writer and thinker,’ said David Shipley, Executive Editor of Bloomberg View in a morning statement. ‘Few people have done a better job chronicling the economic, corporate and technological disruptions of the last decade. She’s going to make a lot of readers — those who have followed her for years and those who will discover her at Bloomberg — smarter and happier. We’re thrilled that she’s joining the team.’
“McArdle has been covering economics and public policy since 2001, when she launched ‘Live From the WTC’ from a construction trailer at the Ground Zero disaster recovery site. In 2003, she joined the staff of the Economist as Deputy Countries Editor for the website. She spent four years at the Economist in various positions, and launched its first blog, ‘Free Exchange.’
“In her past…In 2007, she left the Economist for The Atlantic, where she spent five years writing about the intersection of economics, business, and Washington politics. During that time, she helped launch Atlantic.com’s business vertical. For three years, she was also the magazine’s business columnist.
“She left the Atlantic in 2012 for Newsweek.”
Read more here.
Will WSJ stand up to China now?
by Chris Roush
Eamonn Fingleton of Forbes.com writes about how The Wall Street Journal will cover China now that the CEO of its parent company, Rupert Murdoch, is divorcing his China-born wife.
FIngelton writes, “Under Murdoch’s ownership (he bought the paper in 2007), the Journal has stuck with its tradition of making light of China’s refusal to play by the agreed rules of international trade. The result today is that America’s bilateral trade deficits with China have multiplied nearly ten-fold and typically run around $150 billion to $300 billion a year. All this is the more interesting for the fact that other nations do NOT have similar access problems in the Chinese market. Take Japan. With a workforce little more than one-third of America’s and an economy still badly discombobulated by the Tohoku earthquake, Japan last year exported about $180 billion worth of goods to China. That was more than 34 percent more than America sold. In per-capita terms, Japan’s exports ran three times America’s. Moreover – and this is where things get really depressing for the United States – most of what Japan has been selling to China consists of high-tech producers’ goods such as production machinery, advanced materials, and key components. By contrast America exports mainly low-level commodities, not least waste paper and scrap metal.
“Part of the reason you don’t hear more about America’s China access problem is because such potential U.S. exporters as Apple, IBM, Google, and Microsoft fear retaliation from Beijing if they complain in public. This is a situation where the U.S. government should be doing the heavy lifting — and the media should be daily on the government’s case. No organization is in a better position to lead the charge than the Wall Street Journal. It is a pity therefore that America’s leading business newspaper continues — more than thirteen years after China’s entry to the World Trade Organization was agreed — to urge patience as China supposedly needs more time to get its act together. The time for patience is long gone as the success of other nations in penetrating the Chinese market makes clear. It is time to talk tough. Perhaps now that Wendi Deng no longer has the chairman’s ear, the Journal’s editors will begin to find their voice.”
Read more here.
