Wall Street Journal circulation figures to be investigated

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

The newspaper circulation watchdog is set to launch an investigation into Rupert Murdoch's flagship Wall Street Journal Europe, following the resignation of its publisher amid allegations that it artificially boosted its sales figures.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations said it had "recently" decided to take another look at the sales scheme that sold bulk copies to students at cut prices on the basis of "new evidence", although it did not elaborate on when exactly it received the evidence.

Andrew Langhoff, one of Murdoch's most senior European executives, resigned on Tuesday after the Journal said he had inappropriately agreed to publish two articles as part of a commercial agreement with a Dutch company. On Wednesday the Guardian reported that the Dutch company had been involved in a scheme designed to artificially boost the newspaper's sales figures.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/13/wall-street-journal-europe-circulation

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There's probably a reason why most WSJ online articles require a paid registration to read in full!

[KeepItReal]

1. More info on the WSJ Europe circulation scam here:

Wall Street Journal circulation scam claims senior Murdoch executive

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.

In what appears to have been a damage limitation exercise following the Guardian's inquiries, Langhoff resigned on Tuesday, citing only the complaints of unethical interference in editorial coverage. Neither he nor an article published last night in the Wall Street Journal made any reference to the circulation scam nor to the fact that the senior management of Dow Jones in New York failed to act when they were alerted last year.

The affair will add weight to the fears of shareholders in Murdoch's parent company, NewsCorp, that the business has become a 'rogue corporation', operating outside normal rules. Some shareholders have launched a legal action in the US, attacking the Murdoch family after the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World and following lawsuits in which NewsCorp subsidiaries have been accused of hacking into competitors' computers and stealing their customers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/12/wall-street-journal-andrew-langhoff

[Hosnon]

2. This kind of scandal brought down a once very powerful politician in Georgia. nt.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Yet another corrupt Republicon right-wing mass media propaganda enterprise

no one is surprised to see further RepubliRot at the heart of it alll...

[kestrel91316]

4. Fake sales figures for a RW Murdoch rag? Gosh, imagine that.

Better check for the same thing at all his other papers and mags.

[caseymoz]

12. Demonstrating how businesses will stay honest without government oversight

Yep.

[quakerboy]

13. Not just print

might be good to go over News corps broadcast numbers as well. I wonder how many hours daily of Fox TV programming are played muted and ignored in favor of conversation or video poker machines in restaurants around the country because Fox offered to pay for the TV's.

[Blue Owl]

5. L. Ron Murdoch

BESTSELLER!

:sarcasm:

[plumbob]

6. Just couldn't happen to anyone more deserving.

Rag merchant.

[caseymoz]

7. Now, how about Fox' rating figures? nt

[pacalo]

9. I've suspected for years that those numbers were inflated.

How is it done, is the question.

[caseymoz]

14. As much as I quip and I'd like to believe they are . . .

Falsifying channel ratings would be a huge scandal for ratings companies like Neilson, not just Murdoch and Fox.

[pacalo]

15. I was thinking more along the line of FN's offering businesses, doctors' offices, etc.,

free cable if they'd broadcast Fixed News in their waiting areas. It's galling that a place of business would keep the station on Fixed News when it's nothing but contrived news to bolster one political party, when obviously we live in such a diverse society with different opinions. So, are these businesses getting something out of it, is what I wonder.

[caseymoz]

16. That's what they do? I didn't know that.

Yes, that would be cheating on the ratings. Though one would think rating agencies would filter pro-bono cable out of their ratings. One would think.

[pacalo]

17. To be clear, I don't know *why* a lot of businesses have their tvs on that one-dimensional station.

I was just speculating. But it is a way to inflate their ratings without a means to manipulate the numbers directly.

[pacalo]

8. Murdoch's employees know better than to pull any stunts like that in the U.S.

:sarcasm:




More like (1) Murdoch seems to hire the sleeziest, unethical people he can find in Europe or (2) only Europeans are honest enough to report Murdoch's puppets who get caught following Murdoch's orders.

[gratuitous]

10. Will any advertisers demand a refund?

After all, ad rates are determined in part by circulation numbers. If I want my ad seen by a million people, I'll pay the premium price for a newspaper that's supposed to reach that many subscribers. But if the newspaper only has 600,000 subscribers, I've been ripped off. The question is, will any advertisers risk Murdoch's wrath by asking for some of their money back? Or will they settle for "store credit" - free or reduced price ads over the next couple of years?

[AndyTiedye]

11. Advertisers Have Been Defrauded

They will be demanding refunds and prosecutions.

[Kingofalldems]

18. Kick this right back to the top