Washington Post Names Marcus Brauchli Executive Editor

But after Murdoch took control in December, Brauchli found himself being undercut by the new publisher, Robert Thomson, the former editor of Murdoch's Times of London. Brauchli was caught between Murdoch's push for rapid change -- which included a newsier front page, shorter stories and more coverage of national politics -- and much of the staff, which wanted to preserve the Journal's traditional role as a business newspaper specializing in long narratives. Brauchli became a middleman, trying to accommodate the new owner's demands while, for example, protecting the quirky front-page features known as A-heds, which Murdoch had criticized.

In April, Thomson and Dow Jones chief executive Leslie Hinton told Brauchli it might be better for the Murdoch team to have their own person running the paper. Brauchli agreed to step down and become a News Corp. consultant, receiving a payout, negotiated by Washington lawyer Robert Barnett, that the New York Times estimated at between $3 million and $5 million. Such payments to departing senior executives had been approved in advance by the Dow Jones board, and came with a standard non-disparagement agreement barring criticism of the company.

"What was important," Brauchli said, "was the Journal, not me--that the editorial integrity be preserved, not that my job be preserved. . . . Fighting for my job would have been mostly selfish and undermined the fight to maintain quality journalism."

The independent committee was not notified until Brauchli's departure was a fait accompli, and it took no action after Brauchli told its members that his resignation was not the result of editorial interference.

But Brauchli drew criticism, from outsiders and some Journal staffers, for quietly stepping down. Dean Starkman, a former Journal reporter, wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review that when confronted with a difficult choice, "Marcus Brauchli took the easy way. . . . Had NewsCorp. taken over Washington Post Co. under the same terms . . . would Downie have handed over control of the Post's legacy without recourse to a committee that was put in place to protect his autonomy? Or would he have stood up to Murdoch?"

Harwood said that "there's no question there were a significant number of people at the Journal who were angry with him for having left as quickly and in the way that he did."

Brauchli, however, said there was no reason for him to protest. "I never saw any evidence that the owners had tried to impose ideological or commercial agendas on the news coverage," he said.

At The Post, the downtown newsroom and Arlington-based Web site have sometimes been at odds. When Brauchli combined the two operations at the Journal, he added new blogs, such as the online version of Washington Wire, and found the subscription-fee site infused with new energy.

"It wasn't so many years ago that print reporters seemed to their mostly younger, online colleagues to be Gutenberg Bible-era troglodytes," he said. "No more. Many reporters want to do video, produce photo galleries, concoct interactive features that will engage readers."

Brauchli has two daughters, ages 8 and 6. He is married to Los Angeles Times reporter Maggie Farley, who has been the paper's U.N. bureau chief.