Wal-Mart Technician Taped A N.Y. Times Reporter’s Calls
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The world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., faces a federal investigation after the company said a technician intercepted text messages and improperly recorded phone calls with a New York Times reporter.
The company, based in Bentonville, Ark., learned of the recordings on January 11 when a worker reported them, Wal-Mart said yesterday in a statement. The unidentified technician was fired.
The recordings, which took place over four months through January, didn’t break state and federal laws, Wal-Mart said. Federal investigators informed the company March 1 that a probe was under way. Last year the chairman of Hewlett-Packard Co., Patricia Dunn, and other officials resigned after company representatives improperly obtained phone records of reporters and board members.
The same employee also read text messages and pages from non-Wal-Mart employees, in violation of company policy, the retailer said.
Ms. Williams said Wal-Mart couldn’t disclose what it learned as to why the technician singled out the Times reporter, identified by New York Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty as Michael Barbaro, and his conversations with people in Wal-Mart’s public relations department. No other journalists or public figures were recorded, she said.
“We are troubled by what appears to be inappropriate taping of our reporter’s conversations,” the New York Times said in an emailed statement. “At this point, we don’t know many of the key facts, such as what the purpose of this taping was and the extent, if any, to which the action was authorized.”
