Editing The Wall Street Journal (section)

==Notable stories==
The ''Journal'' has won 39 [[Pulitzer Prize]]s in its history. Staff journalists who led some of the newspaper's best-known coverage teams have later published books that summarized and extended their reporting.

===1939: World War I battleships===
In 1939, [[Vermont C. Royster]] wrote a series of articles showing the length of time required for [[List of battleships of World War I|World War I battleships]] to be ready for duty. One story summarized the process of manufacturing armor plates. The U.S. Navy accused Royster, then a Naval Reserve officer, of using classified information for his reporting. Royster said that he obtained the information from ''[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]''.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|pp=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/58/mode/2up?q=%22world+war+i+battleship%22 59]-[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/60/mode/2up?q=britannica 60]}}

===1952: Empire Mail Order===
In October 1952, the Chicago bureau of the ''Journal'' received a press release announcing that [[Howard Hughes]] sold his controlling interest in [[RKO Pictures]] to the Empire Mail Order Company. Managing editor Henry Gemmill led reporting efforts that resulted in articles in late 1952 exposing links between Empire Mail Order and organized crime. Following these stories, Hughes canceled the RKO sale. These stories also led to the first major industry award for the ''Journal'', a [[Society of Professional Journalists|Sigma Delta Chi]] public service award for these stories.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|pp=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/120/mode/2up?q=%22howard+hughes%22 121]-[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/122/mode/2up?q=rko 122]}}

===1954: Automobile models===
On May 28, 1954, the ''Journal'' published a front-page story by John Williams revealing designs of 1955 automobiles by [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]], [[Pontiac (automobile)|Pontiac]], and other auto makers. Williams had talked to factory workers and auto executives for several weeks. The story revealed that the cars would have larger engines and wrap-around windshields. The inclusion of drawings was notable for being a rare use of graphics by the ''Journal'' of the time. Nearly a week later, [[General Motors]] canceled its nearly $250,000 in advertising with the ''Journal''; GM president [[Harlow Curtice]] accused the ''Journal'' of copyright infringement and breach of confidentiality.{{sfn|Scharff|1986|pp=[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/126/mode/2up?q=%22Williams+did+not+attempt%22 126]-[https://archive.org/details/worldlypowermaki0000scha/page/126/mode/2up?q=%22may+28+1954%22 127]}} [[Richard Tofel]] of [[ProPublica]] commented on this story in 2015: "The little-remembered incident helped establish the notion that news organizations could and should preserve their independence from advertisers."<ref>{{cite web|last=Tofel|first=Richard|title=The Time a Newspaper Stared Down the Country's Largest Advertiser|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/the-time-a-newspaper-stared-down-the-countrys-largest-advertiser|publisher=ProPublica|date=April 22, 2015|access-date=September 21, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507155833/https://www.propublica.org/article/the-time-a-newspaper-stared-down-the-countrys-largest-advertiser|archive-date=May 7, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===1973: Spiro Agnew bribery===
On August 7, 1973, in an article by [[Jerry Landauer]], the ''Journal'' was the first publication to report that U.S. Vice President [[Spiro Agnew]] was under federal investigation on bribery, extortion, and tax fraud charges. Agnew released a statement confirming the investigation on the night before the ''Journal'' article was published.<ref>{{cite news|last=Apple|first=R.W. Jr.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/07/archives/a-gne-w-is-under-us-investigation-in-possible-criminal-violations.html|title=Agnew is under U.S. investigation in 'possible' criminal violations; innocent of wrongdoing, he says|work=The New York Times|date=August 7, 1973|access-date=September 6, 2024|url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/12/archives/thunderbolt-from-the-early-days-now-agnew.html|title=Thunderbolt From the Early Days|work=The New York Times|date=August 12, 1973|access-date=September 6, 2024|url-access=limited}}</ref> After pleading no contest to one charge of income tax evasion, Agnew was sentenced to a $10,000 fine and three-year suspended jail sentence. On the same day of his sentencing, Agnew resigned as vice president on October 10, 1973.<ref>{{cite book|last=Greene|first=John Robert|chapter='I'll Continue to Speak Out': Spiro T. Agnew as Vice President|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/atpresidentsside00walc/page/124/mode/2up?q=%22continue+to+speak+out%22|title=At the President's Side: The Vice Presidency in the Twentieth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/atpresidentsside00walc|editor-last=Walch|editor-first=Timothy|pages=[https://archive.org/details/atpresidentsside00walc/page/130/mode/2up?q=131 131]-[https://archive.org/details/atpresidentsside00walc/page/132/mode/2up?q=132 132]|year=1997|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=0-8262-1133-X|via=Internet Archive|url-access=registration}}</ref>

===1987: RJR Nabisco buyout===
In 1987, a bidding war ensued between several financial firms for tobacco and food giant [[RJR Nabisco]]. Bryan Burrough and John Helyar documented the events in more than two dozen ''Journal'' articles. Burrough and Helyar later used these articles as the basis of a bestselling book, ''[[Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco]]'', which was turned into a [[Barbarians at the Gate (film)|film]] for HBO.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q4103652|id=tt0106356|title=Barbarians at the Gate}}</ref>

===1988: Insider trading===
In the 1980s, then-''Journal'' reporter [[James B. Stewart]] brought national attention to the illegal practice of [[insider trading]]. He was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in explanatory journalism in 1988, which he shared with [[Daniel Hertzberg]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?type=w&year=1988&FormsButton2=Retrieve|title=The Pulitzer Prizes|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060925063457/http://www.pulitzer.org/cgi-bin/year.pl?type=w&year=1988&FormsButton2=Retrieve|archive-date=September 25, 2006}}</ref> who went on to serve as the paper's senior deputy managing editor before resigning in 2009. Stewart expanded on this theme in his 1991 book, ''[[Den of Thieves (Stewart book)|Den of Thieves]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 1, 1991 |title=Den of Thieves |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/james-b-stewart/den-of-thieves/ |access-date=August 3, 2022 |website=Kirkus Reviews |archive-date=August 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803224801/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/james-b-stewart/den-of-thieves/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===1997: AIDS treatment===
David Sanford, a Page One features editor who was infected with [[HIV]] in 1982 in a bathhouse, wrote a front-page personal account of how, with the assistance of improved treatments for HIV, he went from planning his death to planning his retirement.<ref>Sanford, David. "[http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/national-reporting/works/7.html Back to the Future: One Man's AIDS Tale Shows How Quickly Epidemic Has Turned] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630113448/http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/national-reporting/works/7.html |date=June 30, 2007 }}". ''The Wall Street Journal'' (New York), November 8, 1997.</ref> He and six other reporters wrote about the new treatments, political and economic issues, and won the 1997 [[Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting]] about [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]].<ref>[http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/national-reporting/works/ Pulitzer Prize Winners: 1997&nbsp;– National Reporting], retrieved August 8, 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711062822/http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/national-reporting/works/ |date=July 11, 2007 }}</ref>

===2000: Enron===
[[Jonathan Weil]], a reporter at the Dallas bureau of ''The Wall Street Journal'', is credited with first breaking the story of financial abuses at [[Enron]] in September 2000.<ref>Gladwell, Malcolm. "[https://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/01/08/070108fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=2 Open Secrets] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929153018/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/01/08/070108fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=2 |date=September 29, 2007 }}". ''The New Yorker'', January 8, 2007.</ref> [[Rebecca Smith (journalist)|Rebecca Smith]] and [[John R. Emshwiller]] reported on the story regularly,<ref>[http://www.usdoj.gov/enron/exhibit/03-08/BBC-0001/Images/EXH023-00201.PDF Enron CFO's Partnership Had Millions in Profit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823080958/http://www.usdoj.gov/enron/exhibit/03-08/BBC-0001/Images/EXH023-00201.PDF |date=August 23, 2006 }}, ''The Wall Street Journal'' (New York), October 19, 2001. Retrieved August 19, 2006. (PDF).</ref> and wrote a book, ''24 Days''. In October 2021, the ''Journal'' released Bad Bets, a podcast that recounted the papers reporting on Enron.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Introducing: Bad Bets – Bad Bets – WSJ Podcasts|url=https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/bad-bets/introducing-bad-bets/d26a97c0-79f4-4d71-9378-f8b486f7b6e5|access-date=December 7, 2021|website=The Wall Street Journal|language=en|archive-date=December 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207030907/https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/bad-bets/introducing-bad-bets/d26a97c0-79f4-4d71-9378-f8b486f7b6e5|url-status=live}}</ref>

===2001: 9/11===
The ''Journal'' claims to have sent the first news report, on the Dow Jones wire, of a plane crashing into the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] on [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mediaweek.co.uk/news/662527/Raymond-Snoddy-Media-Logic-says-WSJ-safe-Murdoch/ |title=Raymond Snoddy on Media: Logic says WSJ is safe with Murdoch |publisher=Mediaweek.co.uk |date=June 6, 2007 |access-date=June 5, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222143923/http://mediaweek.co.uk/news/662527/Raymond-Snoddy-Media-Logic-says-WSJ-safe-Murdoch/ |archive-date=December 22, 2012 }}</ref> Its headquarters, at [[One World Financial Center]], was severely damaged by the collapse of the World Trade Center just across the street.<ref name="The Eye of the Storm">{{cite news|last=Bussey|first=John|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000265058230898329|title=The Eye of the Storm: One Journey Through Desperation and Chaos|work=The Wall Street Journal|page=A1|date=September 12, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511142246/http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6536 |archive-date=May 11, 2011 |access-date=September 27, 2024|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Top editors worried that they might miss publishing the first issue for the first time in the paper's 112-year history. They relocated to a makeshift office at an editor's home, while sending most of the staff to Dow Jones's [[South Brunswick Township, New Jersey]], corporate campus.<ref name="Harris 2011">{{cite web|last=Harris|first=Roy J. Jr.|title=How The Wall Street Journal's improvised 9/11 battle plan helped it to a Pulitzer|url=https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2011/how-the-wall-street-journals-improvised-911-battle-plan-helped-it-to-a-pulitzer/|publisher=Poynter Institute|date=September 6, 2011|access-date=September 27, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706192242/http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/040802pulitzer5.htm|archive-date=July 6, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> The paper was on the stands the next day, albeit in scaled-down form. The front page included a first-hand account of the Twin Towers' collapse written by then-Foreign Editor John Bussey.<ref name="The Eye of the Storm"/> Holed up in a ninth-floor office next to the towers, he phoned in live reports to [[CNBC]] as the towers burned.<ref name="The Eye of the Storm"/> He narrowly escaped serious injury when the first tower collapsed, shattering all the windows in the ''Journal''{{'s}} offices and filling them with dust and debris. The ''Journal'' won a [[2002 Pulitzer Prize]] in [[Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting|Breaking News Reporting]] for that day's stories.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2002-Breaking-News-Reporting|title=The Pulitzer Prizes – Works|work=pulitzer.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101230004601/http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2002-Breaking-News-Reporting|archive-date=December 30, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Harris 2011"/>

The ''Journal'' subsequently conducted a worldwide investigation of the causes and significance of 9/11, using contacts it had developed while covering business in the Arab world. In [[Kabul, Afghanistan]], reporters Alan Cullison and Andrew Higgins bought a pair of looted computers that [[Al Qaeda]] leaders had used to plan assassinations, chemical and biological attacks, and mundane daily activities. The encrypted files were decrypted and translated.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cullison|first1=Alan|last2=Higgins|first2=Andrew|title=Computer in Kabul holds chilling memos|url=http://www.msnbc.com:80/news/679996.asp|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=December 31, 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020109163051/http://www.msnbc.com:80/news/679996.asp?pne=msn&cp1=1|archive-date=January 9, 2002|access-date=September 27, 2024|url-status=dead|via=MSNBC.com}} Originally published on ''WSJ.com'' as "[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100975171479902000 Forgotten Computer Reveals Thinking Behind Four Years of al Qaeda Doings]".</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TgYo05-2F7EC|last=Gerges|first=Fawaz A.|title=The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global|place=|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2009|pages=332–333|isbn=9780521519359}}</ref> It was during this coverage that terrorists kidnapped and killed ''Journal'' reporter [[Daniel Pearl]].

===2007: Stock option scandal===
In 2007, the paper won the [[Pulitzer Prize for Public Service]], for exposing companies that illegally [[Options backdating|backdate stock options]] they awarded executives to increase their value.

===2015–present: Theranos investigation===
In 2015, a report written by the ''Journal''{{'s}} [[John Carreyrou]] alleged that blood testing company [[Theranos]]' technology was faulty and founder [[Elizabeth Holmes]] was misleading investors.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901|title=Hot Startup Theranos Has Struggled With Its Blood-Test Technology|last=Carreyrou|first=John|date=October 16, 2015|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=April 22, 2017|issn=0099-9660|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421220545/https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901|archive-date=April 21, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Bilton">{{Cite news|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive|title=Exclusive: How Elizabeth Holmes's House of Cards Came Tumbling Down|last=Bilton|first=Nick|work=The Hive|access-date=April 22, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410172642/http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/09/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-exclusive|archive-date=April 10, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://fortune.com/2015/10/15/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-wsj/|title=Are The Wall Street Journal's Allegations About Theranos True|website=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]|access-date=April 22, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111090439/http://fortune.com/2015/10/15/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-wsj/|archive-date=January 11, 2017}}</ref> According to ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', "a damning report published in ''The Wall Street Journal'' had alleged that the company was, in effect, a sham—that its vaunted core technology was actually faulty and that Theranos administered almost all of its blood tests using competitors' equipment."<ref name="Bilton"/> The ''Journal'' has subsequently published several more reports questioning Theranos' and Holmes' credibility.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/second-theranos-lab-failed-u-s-inspection-1484708428|title=Second Theranos Lab Failed U.S. Inspection|last1=Weaver|first1=Christopher|date=January 18, 2017|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=April 22, 2017|last2=Carreyrou|first2=John|issn=0099-9660|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421122207/https://www.wsj.com/articles/second-theranos-lab-failed-u-s-inspection-1484708428|archive-date=April 21, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-secretly-bought-outside-lab-gear-ran-fake-tests-court-filings-1492794470|title=Theranos Secretly Bought Outside Lab Gear, Ran Fake Tests: Court Filings|last=Weaver|first=Christopher|date=April 22, 2017|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=April 22, 2017|issn=0099-9660|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421221930/https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-secretly-bought-outside-lab-gear-ran-fake-tests-court-filings-1492794470|archive-date=April 21, 2017}}</ref> In May 2018, Carreyrou released a book about Theranos, ''[[Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup|Bad Blood]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Sara Ashley |date=2018-05-21 |title='Bad Blood' explores the culture inside disgraced startup Theranos |url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/05/21/technology/theranos-bad-blood/index.html?iid=EL |access-date=2025-02-14 |website=CNNMoney}}</ref>

[[Rupert Murdoch]]—at the time a major investor in Theranos and owner of the ''Journal''—lost approximately $100 million in his investments in Theranos.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/29/rupert-murdoch-theranos-investment-wall-street-journal|title=Rupert Murdoch set to lose $100m Theranos investment e|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=November 29, 2016|access-date=April 14, 2019}}</ref>

===2018–present: Investigation into Stormy Daniels payment===
{{Main|Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal}}

On January 12, 2018, [[Michael Rothfeld]] and Joe Palazzolo reported in ''The Wall Street Journal'' that during the [[2016 United States presidential election|2016 presidential campaign]], then-candidate [[Donald Trump]]'s personal lawyer, [[Michael Cohen (lawyer)|Michael Cohen]] coordinated a $130,000 payment to [[Stormy Daniels]] for her silence regarding an alleged affair. In subsequent reports, the method of payment and many other details were extensively covered. In April of that year, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents stormed Cohen's home, seizing records related to the transaction.<ref>{{cite news |title=Timeline of the Donald Trump-Stormy Daniels Saga |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/timeline-of-the-donald-trump-stormy-daniels-saga-1525373930 |access-date=April 8, 2019 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=May 3, 2018 |archive-date=April 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408030731/https://www.wsj.com/articles/timeline-of-the-donald-trump-stormy-daniels-saga-1525373930 |url-status=live }}</ref> On August 21, 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts including campaign finance violations in connection with the Daniels payment.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mangan |first1=Dan |title=Trump's ex-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen sentenced to 3 years in prison after admitting 'blind loyalty' led him to cover up president's 'dirty deeds' |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/12/trumps-ex-lawyer-and-fixer-michael-cohen-sentenced-to-3-years.html |access-date=April 8, 2019 |publisher=[[CNBC]] |date=December 12, 2018 |archive-date=December 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212171703/https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/12/trumps-ex-lawyer-and-fixer-michael-cohen-sentenced-to-3-years.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The coverage earned the ''Journal'' the 2019 [[Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Grynbaum |first1=Michael M. |title=Pulitzer Prizes Focus on Coverage of Trump Finances and Parkland Shooting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/business/media/pulitzer-prizes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190415194445/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/business/media/pulitzer-prizes.html |archive-date=April 15, 2019 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |access-date=April 16, 2019 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 16, 2019}}</ref>

===2021: Facebook company files leak===
{{Excerpt|2021 Facebook leak}}