Huffington wants to find leaker of email about its Uber coverage

Arianna Huffington wants to find the person who leaked an email about a Huffington Post editor who wasn’t interested in a story about Uber shortly before its founder joined the company’s board, writes Erik Wemple of The Washington Post.

Wemple writes, “Leaking internal documents is unacceptable and doesn’t comport with company values, Huffington argued. Also: Those who do such things must be malcontents who would be better off leaving their jobs.

“The impression that Huffington imparted was that she was already pursuing the leaker and urged her colleagues to be mindful of problem employees, according to the sources.

“On April 28, this blog reported that Huffington Post executive features editor Gregory Beyer had killed a story pitch about an Uber driver who had turned over the controls to a passenger while he took a nap. The substitute driver then led police on a highway chase. The pitch came just after the Huffington Post had consummated a partnership with Uber to combat drowsy driving, of all things. ‘Let’s hold on this one please as we’re partnering with Uber on our drowsy driving campaign,’ Beyer wrote in an email secured by this blog.

“Colleagues of Beyer later received this apology: ‘Hi everyone, just wanted to bump this because a few people have asked me about this email and I realize it gave off the wrong impression. Obviously our partnerships never affect our coverage, and I was moving quickly in the moment and sent the wrong message as I read it in hindsight. For any confusion or concern I caused with my note, I apologize.'”

Read more here.