Wall Street Journal Names Thomson Managing Editor

Robert Thomson, a former editor of The Times of London, has been appointed Editor in Chief of Dow Jones and managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.

Thomson will replace Marcus Brauchli, who resigned as Journal managing editor last month after a meeting with Dow Jones executives.

"Mr. Thomson's outstanding career as a financial journalist, foreign correspondent and editor equips him perfectly for the position," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.(NWS Quote - Cramer on NWS - Stock Picks) CEO and chairman.

Les Hinton, CEO of Dow Jones, which was acquired by News Corp. in December after a contentious courtship, said: "Robert is the ideal editor to unlock the vast potential of The Wall Street Journal and our other Dow Jones brands, both in this country and around the world."

Thomson will oversee the news section of The Wall Street Journal and the editorial operations of Dow Jones Newswires. Neal Lipschutz, Newswires managing editor, will report to Thomson.

Paul Gigot, Journal editorial page editor, will report to Hinton, who will assume Thomson's role as publisher of the Journal in addition to his existing duties.

Thomson was appointed publisher of Dow Jones in December 2007, having been editor of The Times of London since March 2002. Prior to that, he was managing editor of the U.S. edition of the Financial Times. From 1996 to 1998, he was editor of the Weekend FT. Thomson served as a correspondent in Beijing and Tokyo and began his career as a copy boy at The Herald, Melbourne, Australia, in 1979.

The Dow Jones Special Committee unanimously endorsed Thomson's appointment following his nomination by the company last week.

Referring to the circumstances of Brauchli's resignation, Hinton said: "The Company believes it was acting in accordance with the agreement and had no intention of subverting the role of the Special Committee. In hindsight, we recognize it would have more been appropriate to have advised the Committee in advance of reaching an agreement with Mr. Brauchli.

"We have apologized to the Committee members and undertaken that in future we will consult with it and seek approval of the Committee before taking any action with respect to an editor that could result in a material change in an editor's duties, responsibilities or reporting relationships or the departure of that editor."