Marcus Brauchli Named New Washington Post Editor
NEW YORK — Marcus Brauchli was named executive editor of The Washington Post on Monday, three months after resigning under pressure from the top newsroom job at The Wall Street Journal.
Brauchli, who is 47, is to succeed Leonard Downie Jr., who has led the Post for 17 years and will retire Sept. 8 at the age of 66. Brauchli will be in charge of both the Post's print and online editions.
Brauchli's appointment is part of a broader leadership change at The Washington Post, which named Katherine Weymouth, who is 42, publisher in February. Weymouth is a member of the Graham family, which controls The Washington Post Co.
Weymouth said in a statement that Brauchli's broad experience would help the newspaper "navigate the new world of media," building on the standards set by Downie and his predecessor, Ben Bradlee.
At the Journal, Brauchli oversaw the integration of the newspaper's print and online operations. At the Post, both washingtonpost.com executive editor Jim Brady and the newspaper's managing editor, Phil Bennett, will report to Brauchli. Bennett was seen as a potential candidate for executive editor.
Shortly after announcing his retirement last month, Downie told AP that the Post needed a new, younger editor to lead the paper's next phase of change as it adapts to the new realities of the journalism business being wrought by the Internet.
Like many other newspapers, The Washington Post is struggling with revenues declining due to the nation's economic slump and to advertising dollars flowing online. The Post recently went through its third round of job cuts and reported an 11 percent decline in print advertising revenues for its first quarter.
Online news readership is growing, but revenue from online advertising hasn't grown nearly enough to replace the losses in revenue from print advertising.
Brauchli (whose name is pronounced BROCK'-lee) , became managing editor of The Wall Street Journal in May 2007, shortly after Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. mounted a bid to acquire the Journal's parent company, Dow Jones & Co.
Brauchli left that post in April.
A native of Boulder, Colo., Brauchli started his career at Dow Jones in 1984 as a copy reader for its news service and was soon posted to Hong Kong. He later served as Scandinavia correspondent for The Wall Street Journal's European edition, reported for the Journal from Tokyo and became China bureau chief. He moved to New York in 1999 as a news editor and became national news editor the following year.
Brauchli left the top newsroom job at the Journal just four months after News Corp. closed its acquisition of the paper, saying he had come to believe the paper's new owners should have an editor of their own choosing.
News Corp. had moved quickly to shake up the Journal shortly after buying it, bringing in more political stories and reorganizing the paper's layout. It also installed a news executive above Brauchli _ Robert Thomson, former editor of The Times of London. Thomson's title was publisher but he had broad editorial oversight of the Journal and other Dow Jones properties.
Brauchli didn't return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment Monday evening.
Downie joined The Washington Post as a summer intern in 1964 and later served as investigative reporter, a metro reporter, London correspondent and national editor. He oversaw the paper's Watergate coverage as its deputy metro editor.
Downie, who said he would will turn his focus to writing projects, will stay on as a vice president at large at The Washington Post Co., a title that Bradlee also holds.
The Washington Post Co. also owns Newsweek magazine and Kaplan Inc., a major education company.
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SETH SUTEL | July 7, 2008 06:42 PM EST |