Indian American is new foreign editor at Wall Street Journal
New York, June 20, 2008 (IANS)

An Indian American, Nikhil Deogun, has been promoted as international editor of the Wall Street Journal, one of three editors reporting directly to the managing editor in a new shake up. The Kolkata bred Doon School product is currently editor of the Money & Investing section of the financial daily. He will take charge of the global network of bureaus and correspondents from July 7, 2008.

Announcing the shake up in a memo Thursday, Robert Thomson, who took over as managing editor of the Journal in May, said: "At the heart of our new structure will be a National, International and Enterprise Team, a triumvirate which will report directly to me and to whom the bureau chiefs will report." The three deputy managing editors, he said, will sit close together in what could be called a "news hub", thus streamlining commissioning and editing decisions, and giving them a central role in the production and presentation of copy for the paper and the website.

Besides Deogun, the other two in the new troika are Matt Murray, who becomes National Editor, overseeing American general and corporate news, and Mike William, who will preside over a broadened Page One, being responsible for investigative reporting too.

Deogun has been with the Journal since 1994. Before taking over the Money & Investing section in 2007, he served as deputy bureau chief of the paper's Washington bureau for three years. Asked about his new role, Deogun told the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA): "I'm delighted about my new position and look forward to expanding the Journal's profile outside the US and providing quality journalism of the highest integrity to our loyal readership."

Deogun becomes the second India-born journalist to become deputy managing editor at the Journal. The first was Raju Narisetti, who left the paper two years ago to launch Mint, a New Delhi-based business daily of the HT group.

Born in Assam, Deogun grew up in Kolkata and studied at the Doon School. His first newspaper job was an internship at The Statesman in Kolkata. Deogun now joins three other South Asian foreign editors of famous magazines: Nisid Hajari at Newsweek, Aparisim 'Bobby' Ghosh at Time, and Stephanie Mehta at Fortune. Amongst other South Asians holding senior journalistic positions in the US is Davan Maharaj, managing editor of the Los Angeles Times.