Business Insider staffers alarmed after parent company compels reporting ‘review' after Bill Ackman complaints

News organizations seldomly see their reporting publicly called into question by their parent companies. But that rare and embarrassing scrutiny is precisely what a publishing powerhouse has treated its financial-focused US outlet to. The dust up comes as the outlet takes fire from a billionaire for publishing a pair of stories last week reporting that his wife had plagiarized some of her work. Instead of standing by its outlet as it faced a barrage of criticism, the parent company announced that it would take the extraordinary and unusual step of compelling the digital publication to conduct a ‘review’ of its work — all while acknowledging that the veracity of the outlet’s reporting appeared to be sound. Regardless of how long it takes or what specifically touched it off, the existence of any review has alarmed staffers inside the newsroom, where journalists have expressed worry about the parent company’s second-guessing of its reporting. Staffers are troubled about the precedent such a review might set, particularly on a punchy newsroom known for aggressively reporting on the wealthy and powerful. Whether the global editor-in-chief actually welcomes the review or not, it is very much out of the ordinary.