NY Times biz reporter's calls with Wal-Mart taped by company employee

The New York Times is reporting that phone calls between one of its business reporters and a Wal-Mart public relations employee were taped by another company employee.

Julie Creswell wrote, “The technician, whom Wal-Mart declined to identify, was terminated from the company this morning, and disciplinary action is being taken against two other managers whose responsibilities include his department, Ms. Williams said. She also declined to identify the other individuals.

“‘The technician acted completely on his own,’ Ms. Williams added. ‘No one at Wal-Mart authorized his action.’

“Wal-Mart did not name the reporter for The Times. However, The Times’s retail reporter who has covered Wal-Mart extensively is Michael Barbaro.

“A spokeswoman for The Times issued the following statement: ‘We are troubled by what appears to be inappropriate taping of our reporter’s conversations. 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.'”

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