WALL ST. JOURNAL SHUFFLES PRINT, ONLINE EXECS

By: Karim Mostafa Jaroslovsky Moves To Print Edition


Dow Jones announced Friday several management changes in an effort to increase collaboration between the print and online divisions of The Wall Street Journal.

Neil Budde, 44, was named chief product officer for Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing, meanwhile maintaining his position as publisher of the business daily's Web site. Budde said that in his new position he'll be focusing on the company's strategic direction for new products as wireless and broadband evolve. He also plans to work on better integrating what products they've already launched -- verticals such as CareerJournal.com and StartUpJournal.com, making sure the company remains consistent across the various delivery channels.

Scott Schulman, president of the Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing division created in February of this year, said in a statement that "this reporting structure will help us coordinate the growing number of activities within the company's expanding consumer electronic publishing group." In an interview, Schulman added that these changes are an effort to find new ways to connect print and online products and reporting efforts.

Bill Grueskin, 45, a senior editor of The Wall Street Journal, has been named managing editor of the Online Journal. He switches places with Rich Jaroslovsky, 47, managing editor of WSJ.com for seven years. Jaroslovsky will be returning to the print edition as a senior editor.

Todd Larsen, 35, was named general manager of Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing, concentrating on business and operations functions for the Online Journal, Barron's Online, and Wall Street Journal Interactivo.

Despite his print title, Grueskin had been working on the Weekend Journal Web site until that project was "put on ice" several months ago. Grueskin, who was approached only a few days ago about the new position, said that his responsibility will be to make sure the online edition reflects what appears in the print edition. Grueskin will report to Schulman and Stephen Adler, a deputy managing editor at the Journal for news. Adler, according to Schulman, has been involved with the online operations all along, essentially serving as editorial director to several of the vertical businesses.

Schulman said that the company is not integrating the print and online newsrooms and that there will continue to be two distinct products. He said the company is looking for smart ways to collaborate and coordinate on projects across different media formats.

Jaroslovsky, who was a founding member and currently president of the Online News Association, said, "It's been seven great years at the Online Journal. I'm going, but I'm not going far -- just several floors down."

Schulman said of Jaroslovsky's change that "It's an injection of interactive DNA into the Journal -- a cross-fertilization of skills, so to speak."

Jaroslovsky said that the Online Journal "from the very beginning fostered strong ties between the print and online version."

"I remain a firm believer in the power of this rich medium," Jaroslovsky added. He said that despite the current growing pains in the industry, the audience for online news remains undiminished.

Jaroslovsky will continue to serve as president of the Online News Association until the end of his term, which expires later this year.



Karim Mostafa (kmostafa@editorandpublisher.com) is associate editor for E&P Online.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.