Wall Street Journal circulation scam claims senior Murdoch executive
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/12/wall-street-journal-andrew-langhoff
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(Photograph: Mark Lennihan/AP)
One of Rupert Murdoch's most senior European executives has resigned following Guardian inquiries about a circulation scam at News Corporation's flagship newspaper, the Wall Street Journal.
The Guardian found evidence that the Journal had been channelling money through European companies in order to secretly buy thousands of copies of its own paper at a knock-down rate, misleading readers and advertisers about the Journal's true circulation.
The bizarre scheme included a formal, written contract in which the Journal persuaded one company to co-operate by agreeing to publish articles that promoted its activities, a move which led some staff to accuse the paper's management of violating journalistic ethics and jeopardising its treasured reputation for editorial quality.
Internal emails and documents suggest the scam was promoted by Andrew Langhoff, the European managing director of the Journal's parent company, Dow Jones and Co, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in July 2007. Langhoff resigned on Tuesday.
The highly controversial activities were organised in London and focused on the Journal's European edition, which circulates in the EU, Russia, and Africa. Senior executives in New York, including Murdoch's right-hand man, Les Hinton, were alerted to the problems last year by an internal whistleblower and apparently chose to take no action. The whistleblower was then made redundant.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/12/wall-street-journal-andrew-langhoff
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- groups:
- Community, Comedy, Co-Evolution
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- tags:
- Corruption, Rupert Murdoch, Wall St. Journal
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ampersand
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The fact that:
"The bizarre scheme included a formal, written contract in which the Journal persuaded one company to co-operate by agreeing to publish articles that promoted its activities, a move which led some staff to accuse the paper's management of violating journalistic ethics and jeopardizing its treasured reputation for editorial quality."
barely merits mention.
One must understand that "news" is now kind-for-kind paid promotion of media advertisers and that is the well-understood core function of modern "journalism." - 8 months ago
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ampersand
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ampersand
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I am SO shocked and surprised to find corruption at Rupert Murdock's Wall St. Journal.
To find that they fired the whistle-blower who brought the corruption to management's attention, and then took no action, is of course, SOOOO out of character for that sterling enterprise, and the culture surrounding that noble captain of industry, Mr. Rupert Murdoch.... - 8 months ago
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ampersand
