The Wall Street Journal has laid off around a dozen reporters and editors from its health, science and education verticals, according to a staff memo from editor-in-chief Emma Tucker.
“Today we are announcing changes to how we structure our health, science and education teams at The Wall Street Journal,” she wrote. “I want to thank them for them for their many contributions to the Journal, particularly Stefanie Ilgenfritz.
Stefanie has spent more than 35 years at the Journal and has helped shape distinctive and consequential journalism, including a series on Medicare fraud that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015.”
Tucker also laid out the restructuring in her message. “The health group is returning to the business team after becoming a separate coverage area during the Covid-19 pandemic. Coverage of health insurers pharmaceuticals and the business of health will become a bureau under Kate Linebaugh’s Corporate group,” she wrote. “Our existing personal-health coverage, which already resides within the Corporate team, will be merged with the new Health bureau to create a single, cohesive reporting group. We will recruit a new health bureau chief to lead our coverage.”
“The Science bureau will be merged into our Education team, which remains part of National Affairs. Erin White is the bureau chief, and she will ensure a cohesive vision for these intertwined areas,” Tucker further noted.
“I recognize that change can be unsettling, and I thank you all for your ongoing focus and professionalism,” she concluded.
Most recently, the paper laid off members of its tech team back in March in a similar reconfiguration of its Technology & Media group.
The Wall Street Journal’s layoffs notably come the same day NBC News laid off 150 employees across its internal Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ verticals.
