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Roger Scruton's claim that he could place tobacco sympathetic
articles in the press was very worrying, but may not be entirely true;
certainly the editor of the Economist magazine, Bill Emmott completely
denies the allegation as below. This is important, as we need to know
which journals we can trust
Dear Mr Salmon
Thanks for your e-mail. I can confirm that Roger Scruton has never
planted any articles of any kind in The Economist, nor (as far as I know)
has he ever tried to. Nor has he ever written for The Economist at our
request, either.
I have a clear policy on conflicting interests for journalists: none
are permitted. If any existed, they would certainly be disclosed to
readers, but since no one is allowed to write about a firm or topic on
which they have a conflict of interest, this has not arisen. The penalty
for being found to have done so without having disclosed the interest to
me is dismissal.
Yours sincerely
Bill Emmott
Editor
Competing interests:
No competing interests
13 February 2002
douglas n salmon
gp
shanklin house surgery, 190 aston lane, birmingham b20 3he
The Economist and Roger Scruton
Roger Scruton's claim that he could place tobacco sympathetic
articles in the press was very worrying, but may not be entirely true;
certainly the editor of the Economist magazine, Bill Emmott completely
denies the allegation as below. This is important, as we need to know
which journals we can trust
Dear Mr Salmon
Thanks for your e-mail. I can confirm that Roger Scruton has never
planted any articles of any kind in The Economist, nor (as far as I know)
has he ever tried to. Nor has he ever written for The Economist at our
request, either.
I have a clear policy on conflicting interests for journalists: none
are permitted. If any existed, they would certainly be disclosed to
readers, but since no one is allowed to write about a firm or topic on
which they have a conflict of interest, this has not arisen. The penalty
for being found to have done so without having disclosed the interest to
me is dismissal.
Yours sincerely
Bill Emmott
Editor
Competing interests: No competing interests