Biz Buzz for October 2007: Changes at WSJ.com and in Salt Lake City

By Chris Roush croush@email.unc.edu

NEW ME NAMED FOR WSJ ONLINE

Almar Latour becomes managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Online effective Sept. 4. He is replacing Bill Grueskin, who was recently named deputy ME of the paper.

Previously, Latour was bureau chief for the technology group based in New York. His appointment represents the continuing move to integrate the print and online editions of the Journal.

“As a bureau chief, Almar Latour has distinguished himself both as a leader of journalists and as an analyst of technology trends,” said Alan Murray, (left) executive editor of WSJ Online, in a statement. “He has a deep and long-standing interest in the Internet as a means of delivering news and information…With Almar in place, we’re now ready to enter a new period of change and growth.”

Latour, 36, joined the Journal as an intern for WSJ Europe in Brussels in 1995, becoming a news assistant in the Journal’s Washington bureau later that year. In 1996, he became a reporter covering economic and political developments in Eastern Europe.

After a stint on spot news in New York, Latour became the paper’s Stockholm correspondent in 1998, covering economic, political and business developments in Northern Europe and the Baltic states. He moved to London in 2001 to write about European telecom and technology.

In 2003, Latour came to New York as a reporter in the New York technology group covering U.S. phone companies. He was named deputy bureau chief in 2005 and was named bureau chief later that year.

DESERET MORNING NEWS CHANGES

Greg Kratz, the business editor at the Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City, has left that position amid a number of changes on the business desk at the paper.

Leading the business section now are Chuck Gates, formerly assignment editor at the News, who has been named business and technology editor, and Julianne Basinger, an assistant city editor, who will oversee statewide business legislature coverage.

Brice Wallace remains as the senior business reporter and institutional memory for the department. He is joined by Angie Welling, who previously covered human services but often has helped on business stories in the past.

Another business reporter will join the team soon, and other News staffers will help out as needed.

Said Kratz, who remains at the paper: “This is all part of a reorganization designed to help us better use our resources and make sure we cover all the stories that need covering, whether they deal with business or any other aspects of our readers’ lives.”

BOSS WATCH

Business 2.0 editor Josh Quittner becomes executive editor of Fortune after Time Inc. shutters the San Francisco-based magazine. Joining Quittner at Fortune are Business 2.0 journalists Phil Elmer-Dewitt, Paul Sloan and Michael Copeland…Dan Golden, (right) the former deputy Boston bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, joins Conde Nast Portfolio as a senior editor. Also leaving the Journal is AME Tunku Varadarajan…Chris Anstey, formerly Federal Reserve editor, becomes U.S. economy team leader for Bloomberg News in Washington. Daniel Moss, previously U.S. economy team leader, is now ME of global economy at the wire service…Paul Ingrassia, vice president of news strategy at Dow Jones & Co., says he will leave the company. Ingrassia, once considered a candidate to be ME of The Wall Street Journal, was a Pulitzer Prize winner for the paper in 1993…Susan Carney is acting biz editor at the Detroit News. She had been deputy biz editor and replaces Mark Truby, who left for a job at Ford Motor Co…Jeff Kutler becomes U.S. editor for Institutional Investor…Jim McBride, who has been with the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas for the past 21 years in a variety of jobs, becomes the paper’s business editor… Rob Johnson, biz editor at the Roanoke (Va.) Times since 2005, becomes the daily’s first-ever writing coach and will also be a senior reporter in the metro department. The move will be effective when a successor is found to lead the paper’s biz team… Bob Bryan, a 10-year veteran at the Pensacola News Journal in Florida, becomes biz editor. He formerly worked in Milton as Santa Rosa County bureau chief. He replaces Sara Rabb, who becomes education editor overseeing education issues in area school districts and colleges.

UPPER EAST SIDE

Nell Henderson, a reporter for The Washington Post who covered the Fed, leaves to become a senior editor at McKinsey Global Institute, the economics think tank of McKinsey & Co…Adam Schreck joins the Associated Press in New York to cover energy and transportation…Todd Wallack joins the Boston Globe as a biz reporter covering biotech and medical devices. He had been with the Boston Business Journal…Scott Whipple leaves the New Britain Herald to become a staff writer at the Hartford Business Journal… Adam Sichko joins The Business Review in Albany, N.Y. to cover government, the legal system and manufacturing...Thomas Gryta joins the health care reporting team at Dow Jones Newswires, reporting on the biotech and generic drug industries. Also, Michael Crittenden (left) leaves Congressional Quarterly for Dow Jones Newswires, where he will cover economic indicators…Tech reporter Ben Hammer leaves the Washington Business Journal to join public affairs firm Glover Park Group…Joe DiStefano returns to the biz desk of the Philadelphia Inquirer after leaving nearly a year ago to go to Bloomberg News to cover credit card companies.

WAY DOWN SOUTH

Etan Horowitz (right) becomes the tech reporter and columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. Horowitz had previously worked in the Sentinel’s suburban bureaus for three years. In addition to covering technology trends and local firms, he writes a weekly column and “How 2” item for the paper’s new Saturday Tech section called “Tech Support”…Ian Katz leaves the South Florida SunSentinel to cover corporate governance at Bloomberg. And Sarah Talalay moves from sports to business at the SunSentinel, still covering sports biz…Mark Essig becomes the new biz editor at the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina. He replaces Katie Wadington…Liz Flaisig joins the biz desk of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville to cover real estate. She had been an editorial writer… Roanoke Times reporter Ray Reed, who most recently covered the health care industry, moves from the paper’s biz team to the Lynchburg (Va.) News and Advance as political reporter. And technology reporter Andrew Kantor leaves The Times to pursue freelance writing…Adam Linker joins the Triangle Business Journal to cover non-profits, higher education and health care…Laura Youngs leaves the biz desk of the Augusta Chronicle to become a reporter at the Triad Business Journal in Greensboro.

MIDWEST MOVES

Jim McNair, (right) a business reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer, is fired after six years at the paper. The paper hires Lisa Bernard from the Dayton Daily News to cover residential and commercial real estate, and moves features copy editor and restaurant writer Stepfanie Romine to business to cover retail and restaurant news. Meanwhile, biz reporter Cliff Peale moves to news to cover higher ed and the business of health care, although he will occasionally help with business projects…Rockford (Ill.) Register Star biz reporter Rowena Vergara leaves for a position at the Aurora Beacon News… John Welbes of the St. Paul Pioneer Press picks up coverage of the airlines beat after the departure of Sheryl Jean. Welbes also covers manufacturing.

WEST COAST WAVES

Paul Craig joins The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash., to cover health care. He had been with The News-Review in Roseburg, Ore., where he also covered business…Ben Tinsley joins the Las Vegas Business Press. He had been in Texas and had worked for the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, among other publications…Carleen Hawn (right) joins Financial Week as its West Coast reporter based in San Francisco to cover venture capital and technology. Hawn was West Coast bureau chief for Fast Company, and she is former associate editor of Forbes Silicon Valley bureau.

GLOSSY GOINGS

Doug Frantz, (left) the former ME of the Los Angeles Times, joins Conde Nast Portfolio as a senior writer based in Washington. Also, Hilary Stout joins Portfolio as a senior editor. She had been at The Wall Street Journal. Finally, Katrina Booker leaves Portfolio to return to Fortune…Michael Arndt, a senior correspondent in the BusinessWeek Chicago bureau, becomes editor of the publications new monthly publication for the Chicago market…Jeffrey Chu becomes senior editor at Fast Company. He had been a senior associate editor at Portfolio. Also, Thomas Foster joins Fast Company as articles editor. He had been at Men’s Journal…Forbes associate editor Chana Schoenberger switches beats and is now in Tokyo covering Japanese business, technology and finance. Also, Soyoung Ho joins Forbes in Washington as a general assignment reporter…Money hires Paul Lim as a senior editor from U.S. News & World Report. Also, Janice Revell joins Money as a senior writer. And Donna Rosato is promoted from staff writer to senior writer at Money.

ON THE WEB

FiLife, the Internet personal finance web site joint venture between Dow Jones & Co. and Interactive Corp., hires new editorial staff. They are Sam Grobart, who previously worked for Money, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire and New York Magazine; Tara Siegel Bernard, who worked at CNBC.com and was a long-time veteran of Dow Jones Newswires; and Irina Aleksander, who’s six months out of NYU and has a host of internships under her belt.

AIR TIME

Terry Baker joins Fox Business Network as an executive producer. He had been with CNBC. He will produce weekend and primetime. Brian Donlon joins Fox as executive producer to run the morning. He comes from iVillage. Andrew Hoffman, who had been with ABC News, will be the executive producer for the daytime. And Gary Schreier, who has been the executive producer for biz content on Fox News, will also produce late afternoon and early evening content on Fox Business Network, which is scheduled to launch Oct. 15.

BACK TO SCHOOL

Wall Street Journal Online executive editor Alan Murray receives a distinguished alumni award from UNC-Chapel Hill. Murray, a Morehead Scholar and member of Phi Beta Kappa, earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Carolina in 1977. After receiving a master's degree from the London School of Economics, Murray joined the staff of the Journal in 1983, reporting on economics in Washington, D.C.

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Posted Sept. 17, 2007