Wall Street Journal Gets Coughlin Scoop (Outtakes Opinion)
by April 25, 2005 12:00 am 63 views
The Wall Street Journal had an outstanding front-page story on April 8 about the alleged union payoffs and fake expense reports that led to the March ousting of Thomas Coughlin from Wal-Mart’s board of directors. Formerly Wal-Mart’s No. 2 exec, Coughlin is now the subject of a federal investigation.
When a whistle-blower wants to make a particularly loud noise, they tend to go to The Wall Street Journal instead of local newspapers. The impact is international and immediate, even though the New York-based newspaper didn’t say where it had obtained the documents it cited.
The Wall Street Journal should also be commended for stationing two reporters in Bentonville for 10 days. That’s the kind of time necessary to break a story of that magnitude.