David Kaplan reports on a big shake-up at Wall Street Journal:

WSJ is cutting 50 editorial positions as it moves to reform editing functions across print, online and mobile, according to a staff memo written by Robert Thomson, the News Corp (NYSE: NWS). paper’s managing editor. The Global News, Global Copy, Global Pagination, Monitor and the stand alone WSJ.com editing desks “will cease to exist” as the separation between those areas are taken down. The New York offices will be the central editing hub and most of the editorial operations in South Brunswick will be closed.

Peter Kafka points out that this “move has been telegraphed for many months.”

At his D Conference in late May, for instance, Murdoch expressed amazement that each piece of WSJ copy is touched by an average of 8.3 people before it gets into print: “That’s ridiculous”. That average is almost certainly going to shrink now.

Indeed.  My boss is a former senior editor at the Journal and he speaks with reverence for the paper’s high editorial standards.   There’s something to be said for having layers of editors going through copy to improve the writing, ask the right questions, and generally provide seasoned input.  Maybe 8.3 hands are too many, though.