The Knucklehead of the Day award

Our winner today is the Tribune Company. Tribune owns the newspaper, Newsday. Last Friday 6 employees, most of whom worked either for Tribune directly or for Newday, pleaded guilty to charges that said they inflated circulation numbers for the Long Island based paper.

I blogged on Tribune Company's chicanery earlier. This circulation scandal is still ongoing. Other newspapers are being investigated. It seems the print MSM doesn't limit itself to misleading the public only, but advertisers also.

For defrauding those who advertised in their newspapers, Tribune Company is our second knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Adam's Blog, Cao's Blog, Point Five, Stop The ACLU, Right Wing Nation, Bright & Early, Wizbang,

NEW YORK - Six people accused of taking part in a scheme to boost the circulation figures at Newsday and the Spanish-language publication Hoy pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges.

The pleas, entered on Friday and Monday, bring to nine the number of people who have pleaded guilty so far in the scandal.

Newsday has acknowledged that, from 2000 to 2004, it inflated its circulation by nearly 100,000 copies on weekdays and Sundays. Hoy doubled its reported circulation, prosecutors said.

Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns both Newsday and Hoy, has set aside $90 million to reimburse advertisers who were overcharged on the basis of the inflated circulation figures.

The six who pleaded guilty included four managers who worked in sales, circulation, distribution and home delivery. Two men with companies that distribute papers also pleaded guilty. They face four to 20 years in prison.

Three executives who previously pleaded guilty include Louis Sito, vice president for Hispanic media at Tribune Co.; Robert Brennan, former Newsday vice president for circulation; and Ed Smith, an independent consultant for Newsday circulation.

"We have cooperated with the authorities in every way possible from the outset of their investigation and will continue to do so," Newsday spokeswoman Deidra Parrish Williams said in a statement.