For the Record — Joe Bel Bruno · StoryCraft
StoryCraft · consultancy + portfolio
For the Record · No. 03
For the record.
a working journalist who became a strategist

Joe
Bel Bruno.

Founder, StoryCraft · Los Angeles
Media Strategy Communications Content

Joe Bel Bruno has spent more than fifteen years helping audiences understand the institutions, personalities, and market forces that shape modern finance.

At the Associated Press, he was part of the team that broke the collapse of Lehman Brothers. At The Wall Street Journal, he later led a 15-person markets reporting team and hosted the Journal's live video program Markets Hub.

Bel Bruno later moved into asset management, serving as Senior Vice President of Communications at TCW, where he led global content strategy and thought leadership for a major fixed-income manager during a period of growth and leadership transition.

He is also the founder of StoryCraft, a strategic communications consultancy focused on helping institutions convert expertise into narrative authority.

I built my career holding companies accountable through front-page journalism. Today, I leverage those reporting skills to help companies craft stories that make a difference and build trust.
Joe Bel Bruno's Associated Press press credential
A working press credential from the AP years — the first byline, the first beat.
Personal archive
15+
Years in
newsrooms & C-suites
6
Mastheads
AP · WSJ · LAT · Variety · dot.LA · TCW
PDF · One Page Download the résumé
On both sides of the camera.
The Reel · No. 04
REC · 01:14:32
As seen on
Bloomberg · CNBC · Fox Business
Reel · 90 sec

The source
and the byline.

a journalist who also gets called by them

For two decades, Joe was the reporter assigning the story. He's also been the source on the other end of the call — invited onto national television to explain mergers, market moves, and management shakeups to audiences who needed to act on the information.

That dual experience — knowing what reporters need and what executives need to say — is the work.

The career, in order.
The Record · No. 05
2023 — 2025
TCW GroupVice President, Communications
Led content strategy during a leadership overhaul at the half-century-old West Coast money manager. Created Focus on Fixed Income, a multi-media podcast and editorial franchise.
2019 — 2020
dot.LAEditor in Chief
Recruited by Zillow founder Spencer Rascoff to build Southern California's leading technology and startup newsroom from the ground up.
2017 — 2019
Variety / The Hollywood ReporterManaging Editor / News Director
Led newsroom operations for Jay Penske's PMC during a period of transformative industry disruption.
2013 — 2017
The Los Angeles TimesDeputy Business Editor
Led editorial direction for the business section, balancing real-time news with deep enterprise coverage. Rebuilt the Hollywood desk.
2009 — 2012
The Wall Street JournalU.S. Markets Editor
Built and led a 15-person team covering equities, derivatives, and IPOs during the post-crisis recovery. Launched Markets Hub, the Journal's first video market briefing.
2006 — 2009
The Associated PressWall Street Reporter
Lead writer on Wall Street and banking through the 2008 financial crisis. SABEW Best in Business award for the “Meltdown 101” series.
Awards and recognitions.
A Selection
SABEW · Best in Business
General Excellence, business section.
Back-to-back citations for the Los Angeles Times, 2012 and 2013. Also recognized for “Meltdown 101,” the AP series that explained complex financial instruments during the 2008 crisis.
National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
Investigative coverage, Hollywood.
Including the #MeToo culpability series at Variety, and LA Times coverage of the Sony Pictures hack by North Korean operatives.
GLAAD Media Awards
Outstanding overall coverage.
Recognized for Variety's “Trans Hollywood” issue.
StoryCraft is the consulting practice of Joe Bel Bruno. Los Angeles, California.
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