Murdoched

I saw this yesterday and figured it was the beginning of the end:

Marcus Brauchli, who took over as [Wall St.] Journal managing editor less than a year ago, confirmed Tuesday he was stepping down. "Now that the ownership transition has taken place, I have come to believe the new owners should have a managing editor of their choosing," he said in a note to the staff.

Mr. Brauchli's departure likely heralds a more dramatic shake-up at the Journal, which has seen a shift in focus since News Corp. bought the Journal's parent, Dow Jones & Co., in December for $5.16 billion. In recent months, the paper has begun putting more emphasis on shorter news stories and more general news, as part of a push by News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch to broaden readership and to compete more directly with the New York Times.

Mr. Murdoch was impatient with the pace of change, say people close to the situation, and whoever takes over is apt to speed up the change process. The identity of the next editor isn't clear. Dow Jones said in a statement it would "begin a search for Mr. Brauchli's replacement immediately."

The Wall Street journal was (emphasis on past tense) simply one of the best newspaper in the United States. Yeah, I know, the editorial section is made up of a bunch of total nutbars. But the news portion of the paper has been doing really great reporting for years. Murdoch, when he bought the paper, said it would retain it's character, stay the same, yadda, yadda, yadda. Of course, few people who know him believed him.