From the Guardian:
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.There you have it. The once proud, conservative newspaper is now being run to the ground under Murdoch. It's not a pretty picture. The shoddy reporting on the Episcopal Church and the breakaways noted in my earlier post is all of a piece with the entire WSJ operation at the present time. Pity the employees of the Journal who remain dedicated to ethical journalism.
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.
