Alan Murray to Return to The Wall Street Journal as Assistant Managing Editor on Jan. 1; He Will Write a Twice-a-Week Column on Business, Economics and Public Policy.

NEW YORK -- Alan Murray, currently CNBC's Washington bureau chief and co-anchor of "Capital Report with Alan Murray and Gloria Borger," will return to The Wall Street Journal on Jan. 1, 2005, as an assistant managing editor. In this role, Mr. Murray will be responsible for a new, twice-a-week column on business, economics and public policy. He will continue as a regular contributor to CNBC, but now as a representative of the Journal, shifting his base to New York from Washington.

In addition to his responsibilities at CNBC, Mr. Murray currently writes the Journal's weekly "Political Capital" column, which will be discontinued at the end of this year. The new column begins its run in February.

"Alan has spent his career writing and commenting on the intersection of business, economics and politics," said Paul Steiger, managing editor of the Journal. "We welcome back his nearly 30 years of experience reporting on public policy and economics."

Before joining CNBC in February 2002, Mr. Murray served for nearly a decade as the Journal's Washington bureau chief. During his tenure, reporters he led were part of teams that won two Pulitzer Prizes, as well as many other awards.

Mr. Murray also is a prolific author, with two best-selling books to his name: "The Wealth of Choices: How the New Economy Puts Power in Your Hands and Money in Your Pocket," published by Random House in 1991, and "Showdown at Gucci Gulch: Lawmakers, Lobbyists and the Unlikely Triumph of Tax Reform," co-authored with Jeffrey Birnbaum and published by Random House in 1987. He also is a regular panelist on Public Broadcasting Service's "Washington Week in Review."

During his career, Mr. Murray has garnered two Overseas Press Club awards for his writings on Asia, as well as a Gerald Loeb Award and a John Hancock award for his coverage of the Federal Reserve.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Mr. Murray began his journalism career in June 1977, and joined The Wall Street Journal to cover economic indicators in Washington in 1983. He also holds a master's degree in economics from the London School of Economics.

About The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal, the flagship publication of Dow Jones & Company (NYSE: DJ; www.dowjones.com), is the world's leading business publication. Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal has a print and online circulation of 2.1 million, reaching the nation's top business and political leaders, as well as investors across the country. Holding 29 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, the Journal seeks to help its readers succeed by providing essential and relevant information, presented fairly and accurately, from a dependable and trusted source. The Wall Street Journal print franchise has nearly 700 journalists world-wide, part of the Dow Jones network of nearly 1,800 business and financial news staff. Other publications that are part of The Wall Street Journal franchise, with total circulation of more than 2.6 million, include The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the largest paid subscription news site on the Web. In 2004, the Journal was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the fifth consecutive year.