News Corp has announced Sunday Times editor Emma Tucker is moving to the same role at The Wall Street Journal after months of rumours.
Tucker has edited The Sunday Times since January 2020 after seven years as deputy editor of The Times.
She will replace Matt Murray, who has been editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires since June 2018. News Corp said he would take on “a senior role” looking after “several critical growth projects” at the company, reporting to chief executive Robert Thomson.
Tucker will start in her new role on 1 February 2023 while Murray will remain at the title until 1 March to help with the transition.
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Asked by Press Gazette about the rumours of her move to the WSJ in October, Tucker said: “The Wall Street Journal has an editor and I have a job as Sunday Times editor and I’m very happy with it. It’s a great job and I love it.”
She said on Monday as the news was announced: “As a long-time admirer and reader of the brilliant journalism of The Wall Street Journal, it is my honour to edit this great newspaper. With some the best writers and the wisest minds on its staff, this impactful publication continues to set the agenda and reach ever-wider digital audiences around the world.
“I look forward to working with Matt through the transition. And I can’t wait to work with the entire team at the Journal and my new colleagues at Dow Jones, who have done so much in recent years to publish journalism that matters and set new records along the way.”
Both the WSJ and Sunday Times have seen a boom in digital subscriptions. The WSJ has doubled its digital-only subscriptions during Murray’s tenure, from about 1.6 million in June 2018 to 3.2 million September 2022.
Meanwhile The Times and Sunday Times have gone from 320,000 digital subscriptions at the end of 2019 to 450,000 at the end of September this year, contributing to pre-tax profits tripling at Times Newspapers last year.
Tucker told Press Gazette in October: “All our future growth is in digital. There’s absolutely no question about it… I think the outlook for print is one way – it’s just a question of how quickly it declines.”
The next editor of The Sunday Times has not yet been announced but one is due be appointed despite increased sharing of resources between the daily and Sunday titles after former Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries released Rupert Murdoch from undertakings put in place when he bought the titles in order to keep them separate.
Former Sun and Telegraph editor Tony Gallagher was appointed to edit The Times in September, meaning both titles will have a new leader within the space of a few months.
Press Gazette has previously reported that insiders see the frontrunner for the Sunday Times job as Ben Taylor, deputy editor since summer 2020, who is considered an ally of Gallagher having worked previously with him at the Daily Mail.
News Corp chief executive said of Tucker: “Emma is a brilliant, inspiring editor, with digital nous and the highest standards of integrity. She has been a thoughtful custodian of The Sunday Times and will bring verve and virtue to Dow Jones. Her global vision and experience will be particularly important at a time of immense international opportunity for The Wall Street Journal.
“Emma has a deep background in business reporting and a thoroughly deserved reputation for the pursuit of principle, and she will never knowingly be beaten to a scoop.”
He said of Murray, who has worked at Dow Jones since 1994: “Matt’s principled leadership has ensured that the Journal is charting an auspicious course for the future and remains a beacon of trust in the midst of the modern media maelstrom. I look forward to Matt’s sagacious and shrewd counsel as he takes on a significant advisory role at News Corp.”
Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of the WSJ, said: “Under Matt’s leadership, the Journal’s newsroom delivered impactful journalism and great investigative reporting, helping fuel a period of tremendous growth in readership at a time of global volatility.
“Emma and the Journal’s team of editors and reporters will now continue to build on that remarkable foundation.”
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