Gerard Baker

Gerard Baker is an American (formerly British) political columnist. He was Dow Jones' Managing Editor, and The Wall Street Journals Editor-in-Chief from 2013 until 2018. Baker stepped down as WSJ Editor-in-Chief and became Editor-at-Large. He was succeeded by WSJ executive editor Matt Murray.

Early life and education Baker was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, United Kingdom and holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (first class honours). Though he long remained a British citizen, Baker took American citizenship in December 2023. He was left-of-centre during his university years, After working there for a year, he moved to Lloyds Bank as a Latin America analyst. As deputy editor-in-chief, Baker (then serving under Robert Thomson) replaced Journal reporters and bureau chiefs who they felt were too liberal. Baker was then dismissive of "what he saw as the turgid style of American journalists." In 2009, a year after their appointment, Thomson and Baker were reported to have given the newspaper a more conservative outlook and, according to David Carr of The New York Times, their editing reflected "a chronic skepticism of the" Obama administration. On 1 March 2013, he was named the Dow Jones Managing Editor, and The Wall Street Journals Editor-in-Chief. In 2015, the Journal began a new round of large-scale layoffs of reporters and staff. Some sections of the paper's print edition, including Greater New York, were cut, while others were consolidated.

In November 2015, Baker was one of the moderators at the fourth Republican primary debate during the 2016 presidential primaries. Baker's performance became an issue on social media, with The Daily Telegraph reporting that Baker had "bemused" and "flummoxed" America.

Theranos investigation Baker was John Carreyrou's editor when the latter investigated and reported on the Theranos scandal for the Journal.

Trump presidency In 2016 and 2017, the Journal leadership under Baker was criticised, both from the outside and from within the newsroom, who viewed the paper's coverage of President Donald Trump as too timid. which argued that the news media failed to report crimes committed by black people against whites, was criticized in a letter sent by the Independent Association of Publishers' Employees, the union representing Journal reporters, for violating rules that apply to the news division. The letter stated Baker's column "posits the highly controversial argument that black people commit more hate crimes than white people" and to "'prove' that he uses only his own single weighted statistical calculation, with no attribution or context from experts either to support the idea or provide contrary views." Baker was subsequently reassigned to the opinion division where staff have more flexibility.

Criticism in the media Baker describes himself as a "right-wing curmudgeon";

Ryan Chittum, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, criticised Baker in the Columbia Journalism Review as "an Iraq War-cheerleading neocon, goofball Obama ridiculer, and author of some of the wrongest commentary of the financial crisis". Chittum highlighted several of Baker's previous writings, including a column in the Financial Times in 2003 in which Baker mocked French opposition to the Iraq War, and a column in The Times in 2006 in which Baker argued that "we are going to have to get ready for war with Iran." In a separate article, The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof referred to the column as right-wing fearmongering.

Portrayals in the media

Although he is a white British man, the writers of The Dropout, the 2023 Hulu dramatization of the life of Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and the events leading to the collapse of the company, portrayed Baker as a black American woman called Judith Baker, played by LisaGay Hamilton. The producers did not provide an explanation for the switch.