Frank Ahrens on the SEC's investigation into media circulation scandals:
The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked several media companies to provide information about how they calculate paid circulation, an industry-wide inquiry that comes after circulation-inflation scandals at four large newspapers this year, the companies confirmed yesterday.The probe, reported in yesterday's editions of the New York Times, includes the Times Co.; The Washington Post Co.; Gannett Co., publishers of USA Today and 100 other papers; Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal and Barron's; and Knight Ridder, publisher of the Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer and 29 other papers.