How the WSJ fought a court order in India to publish a story

Neal Lipschutz, editor of ethics and standards at The Wall Street Journal, talks about how the paper fought a court order in 2015 barring the Journal from running a story about the controversial arrest of a stock analyst in India.

After Geeta Anand, a reporter in the paper’s Mumbai bureau, sent a list of questions to the company that was the subject of the stock analyst’s negative report, the company filed for an injunction preventing the publication of the article.

“After numerous court orders, hearings and filings spanning nearly half the year, we won our battle, only to face a new standards challenge,” said Lipschutz.

The paper had added new material to the article and wanted to give the company, Indiabulls, a chance to respond. That meant that the company could have filed for another injunction. “But our belief in fairness and accuracy took priority,” said Lipschutz.

However, the company didn’t seek any more litigation, and the paper published its story, “A negative stock report about Indiabulls led to an analyst’s arrest and a harrowing 2,000 mile odyssey,” on Sept. 15, 2015.

“It was also a victory for media freedom,” said Lipschutz. “This kind of diligence and dedication to fairness is what distinguished us in an increasingly noisy media landscape.”