LONDON — The Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday it had seen e-mails and documents showing that The Wall Street Journal funneled money through third parties to a company that was buying up copies of the Journal and boosting its European circulation.
The Guardian did not make the e-mails and documents public but, if its description is accurate, the Journal was effectively buying its own papers and inflating its circulation figures — something that could allow it to charge advertisers extra.
The Journal slammed the story as “inflammatory” and “replete with untruths and malign interpretations.”
The Guardian claimed that the Journal had asked intermediaries to make payments to Executive Learning Partnership, which at the time was buying thousands of copies of the Journal every day at deeply discounted prices.
Such discounted sales are not unusual in the newspaper business and the Guardian and the Journal both say that the purchases by ELP were approved by Britain’s circulation watchdog. The Associated Press
