A quanto pare le alte sfere del Wall Street Journal cercavano in tutti i modi di aumentare la tiratura del giornale. Anche pagando un intermediario perché acquistasse copie del WSJ all’ingrosso. Se ne è accorto Nick Davis, il giornalista del Guardian che si sta specializzando nello svelare gli scandali della News Corp.
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.
Guardian (per uno sguardo d’insieme è ottimo questo articolo della Columbia Journalism Review)