Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal have combined their Middle East editorial operations, with two senior executives appointed to oversee news output in the region.
Marcus Wright, previously a senior editor for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at Dow Jones Newswires in London, has been named the new venture's Middle East editor.
He will oversee the editorial teams at several bureaus in the region, as well as managing Dow Jones Newswires' regional partnership with the Zawya news service. Bill Spindle has been named as the Middle East bureau chief. Mr Spindle previously worked at The Wall Street Journal before moving to Abu Dhabi three years ago to help launch The National.
The two executives will work for the combined bureau, which follows similar mergers of the companies' operations in markets such as Washington, Detroit, Brussels, Istanbul and Moscow.
"The combination of our Newswires and Journal teams creates a formidable force dedicated to informing our readers in the region and around the world," said Robert Thomson, the editor-inchief of Dow Jones & Company, and the managing editor of The Wall Street Journal.
Andrew Langhoff, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal Europe and the managing director of Dow Jones & Company in the EMEA region, said the "combined editorial presence in the region will help deliver even stronger, more relevant content".
"We have recently started printing The Wall Street Journal Europe in the UAE and we continue to expand our partnerships with important local players," he said.
The Wall Street Journal is published by Dow Jones & Company, which was bought out by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for US$5.6 billion (Dh20.57bn) in 2007.
The newspaper was mentioned in the recent WikiLeaks disclosures. In a cable dated May 11 last year, unnamed informants told US embassy officials that discussions were under way for an Arabic-language version of the paper. The cable mentions a "three-hour discussion with one of Rupert Murdoch's sons on a deal to publish an Arabic-language version of The Wall Street Journal".
A Dow Jones official declined to comment on the WikiLeaks disclosure.
