Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, selected Marcus Brauchli to succeed Paul Steiger as managing editor of its flagship newspaper. Hours earlier, the company had announced that M. Peter McPherson would succeed Peter Kann as chairman.

Steiger and Kann are both retiring.

The change comes at a difficult time for the Journal, as well as for other newspapers. While the Journal retains its authority and cachet with older readers, a younger audience is migrating to the internet—and advertisers are following them.

Brauchli, 45, was chosen for the job because he oversaw a recent redesign of the newspaper that has been well received. He faces a considerable challenge. A day before his appointment was announced, Dow Jones said advertising revenue fell 1.8 percent in the first quarter.

Earlier in the week, the newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes. One was for exposing the backdating of stock options.

Several senior executives have resigned because of this, and more than 100 companies are being investigated for tolerating the practice.

In an interview in the Journal, publisher Gordon Crovitz called Brauchli "a prime visionary for Journal 3.0," as he described the recent redesign. He added in a note to employees that "Marcus showed during Journal 3.0 that he truly understands how very different our readers' needs are today than even a few years ago."