Paper Allowed Wal-Mart Criticism, Ex-Editor Says

Tony Cox, who served for a year as editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s “Business Matters” section, said he heard no complaints from the newspaper’s management after writing a column criticizing Wal-Mart’s “Made in America” slogan (although he got plenty of complaints from the Wal-Mart brass).

“Management never discouraged us from covering Wal-Mart in a negative and fair way,” Cox said.

A former D-G reporter told the Business Journal that management discouraged her from writing a column criticizing the world’s largest retailer.

Cox, who recently took a job as an editor for Bloomberg News in Tokyo, said the D-G got better access to Wal-Mart executives after some critical coverage appeared in the newspaper.

“We were direct and honest and fair with them,” Cox said. “They didn’t like everything we wrote, but I think there was a mutual respect.”

Cox was editor of “Business Matters” from May 1998 to May 1999.