Gerard Baker

Gerard Baker is a British writer and columnist. Baker has been Dow Jones Managing Editor, and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Editor-in-Chief since March 1, 2013.

Baker holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (first class honors) from Corpus Christi College, Oxford, United Kingdom. Baker is a British citizen.

Baker's first job following graduation was at the Bank of England, United Kingdom. After working there for a year, Baker moved to Lloyds Bank as a Latin America Analyst.

From 1988 to 1994, Baker worked for the BBC as a Producer in the UK and in the U.S., and worked as Economics Correspondent for television and radio. From 1994 to 2004, Baker worked for the Financial Times. From 1994 to 1998, he worked as their Correspondent in Tokyo, Japan; from 1998 to 2002, he worked as their Washington, D.C. Bureau Chief; and from 2002 to 2004, he worked as their Chief U.S. Commentator and Associate Editor. From 2004 to 2009, Baker worked for the Times of London as their U.S. Editor and as an Assistant Editor.

In January 2009, Baker moved to Wall Street Journal, becoming the Deputy Editor-in-Chief. On March 1, 2013, he was named the Dow Jones Managing Editor, and the Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief.

Baker was left-of-center during his university years, and was elected as a Labour vice-president of the student union. Baker subsequently moved toward the right. Media critic David Carr of the New York Times described Baker as "a neoconservative columnist of acute political views." Baker describes himself as a "right-wing curmudgeon." As deputy editor-in-chief, Baker (then serving as Robert James Thomson's lieutenant) replaced Journal reporters and bureau chiefs who they felt were too liberal. Baker "openly mocked Barack Obama and what he saw as the turgid style of American journalists." Baker holds euroskeptic views, arguing against closer European integration.

Ryan Chittum, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, criticized 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 of London in 2006 in which Baker argued that "we are going to have to get ready for war with Iran."

Among the issues addressed by Baker during his tenure as editor of the Journal were several rounds of large-scale layoffs of reporters and staff and the disappearance and death of Journal reporter David Bird.

In November 2015, Baker was one of the moderators at the fourth Republican primary debate during the 2016 presidential primaries. He is the first Briton to moderate a U.S. presidential debate. Baker's performance became popular on social media, with the Daily Telegraph reporting that Baker had "bemused" and "flummoxed" America.