WSJ shutting down Greater New York section

The Wall Street Journal is shutting down its New York City section and launching two new sections, Insider reported Thursday.

“Thank you all for the very kind words,” tweeted the Journal’s city hall reporter Katie Honan about the move following the report’s publication. “I’ve been through this before, but it’s always disheartening, especially after the last year+.”

Thank you all for the very kind words. I’ve been through this before but it’s always disheartening, especially after the last year+.

I’ll still be reporting until the end, on July 9. I hear there’s some big stuff happening in New York City next week, and I’m not going to miss it pic.twitter.com/NRYVytJCMx

— katie honan (@katie_honan) June 17, 2021

In her tweet, Honan confirmed earlier reports that the section would be closed July 9. Along with the rest of the section’s staff, she will be asked to apply for other jobs, according to Daily Beast reporter Max Tani.

The Journal’s editor-in-chief Matt Murray said in a memo about the moves, also obtained by Insider, that the New York team was informed of the decision earlier Thursday morning.

Life & Work is meant to aid readers in their personal career and financial decisions, he said, and Speed & Trending will publish the Journal’s “first take on many breaking stories, raising both our metabolism and our volume on breaking news.”

While he did not offer a specific reason for the decision, in his note Murray implied that closing the section, which was launched in 2010, was a trade-off in managing resources while starting the two new teams.

“Inevitably, as we evolve the newsroom and aim to focus our journalistic mission, we are faced with some hard decisions,” Murray wrote.

Separately, the Journal faced pushback from union staffers recently for a new policy about books and other external projects of its employees.

In a May earnings call, Robert Thomson, CEO of the Journal’s parent company News Corp., said subscription rates for the paper would not be affected by a slower post-Trump presidential news cycle.