The investigation, which was first reported on Sunday by The Wall Street Journal, coincides with a broader search the government is conducting into The Journal’s owner over a phone-hacking scandal that has plagued the company since 2011.
Paula Keve, a spokeswoman for The Wall Street Journal, said the paper had ordered its own investigation, which did not find any support for the claims made about its employees in China.
“After a thorough review of our operations in China conducted by outside lawyers and auditors, we have not found any evidence of impropriety at Dow Jones,” Ms. Keve said. “Nor has anyone taken issue with our findings.”
James M. Margolin, an F.B.I. spokesman in New York, declined to comment on the inquiry.
A Justice Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. It was unclear if the investigation remained open.
According to the Journal article, the bribery accusations came out of a broader investigation into News Corporation’s practices. In early 2012, American officials discovered claims that at least one Journal employee in China had given bribes in exchange for news. The paper said those gifts went well beyond the standard exchange of drinks and meals between sources and journalists and included more costly gifts of entertainment and travel.
If these charges were found to be true, they could violate the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which spurred the Justice Department’s original investigation into the company.
Ms. Keve suggested the claims had been made to discredit The Journal’s reporting in China. “We are extremely proud of our important and impactful coverage coming out of China,” she said, “and regret that some unknown source has sought to taint that work. We remain committed to vigorously covering news out of the region and will continue to support the excellent work of our journalists operating in that very challenging environment.”
The latest investigation caps two years of legal headaches for News Corporation, beginning with revelations of the use of widespread phone hacking at the company’s News of The World tabloid in Britain, which was shut down in July 2011. Dozens of journalists have been arrested in several overlapping investigations. Rebekah Brooks, former editor of News of the World and former chief executive of News Corporation’s British newspaper division, has been charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
The hacking scandal and investor disapproval over News Corporation’s investments in newspapers led Rupert Murdoch to separate his print assets from his entertainment company assets into a new publishing company called News Corporation.
Starting this summer, the new company will include The Wall Street Journal along with other newspapers like The New York Post and The Times of London. It will also be folded into a company with the HarperCollins book publisher and Australian pay-television assets.
Despite the continuing government investigation and the latest charges, Mr. Murdoch seems hopeful about the new company’s future. According to a public filing, he plans to start the new company with a generous parting gift of $2.6 billion and no debt, which may allow it to add even more newspapers to its empire.
On Sunday, Mr. Murdoch seemed more preoccupied with news involving the controversy surrounding the new pope rather than the happenings at his own papers, and he did not mention the latest investigation. On his Twitter feed, he wrote: “Attacks everywhere on Pope Francis misguided. Jesuits were seriously split, but no evidence of being complicit in any persecutions.”
Michael Schmidt and William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/business/media/us-looked-at-bribery-claims-involving-wall-street-journal.html?partner=rss&emc=rss