PressEthic

Ethics is under further siege at Hewlett-Packard. To handle leaks from their company to the newsrooms, they used a play from the days of the Cold War. According to today’s New York Times, "Hewlett-Packard conducted feasibility studies on planting spies in news bureaus of two major publications...."

This is in addition to an internal espionage scandal that has sent the company reeling in recent weeks, which has been blogged at Press Ethics extensively, with Laura Palotie and Cynthia Allen's entries.

Reporters Damon Darlin and Kurt Eichenwald write that the company looked in to planting spies at The Wall Street Journal and CNET, though they could not confirm if plan was carried out. Part of the plan “included the possibility of placing investigators or cleaning crews in the San Francisco offices of CNET and The Wall Street Journal,” write the pair, adding that the company looked in to hiring “cleaning employees at those locations.”

With this new development, the company ethics is further besmirched, as planting spies, obtaining phone records and running covert operations were all part of everyday business. What’s next, double agents?

As amusing as the latest development is in its childish, near Hollywood nature, the long road that this company has traveled to the basement of ethics is breathtaking. And while stockholders must be having fits with the ethics flap, the price has remained stable throughout September, staying in $36 per share range.