Dominating the Wall Street Journal’s backdated options scandal was its takedown of UnitedHealth Group’s Bill McGuire. Of the 18 stories the Journal submitted to the Pulitzer committee, four were devoted to McGuire’s destruction. The Journal did not describe McGuire’s astounding career as a doctor, or his drastic pay cut to pursue the highly abstract task of economically delivering medical care. Instead, it stoked envy of his high compensation, deceptively denounced the means that had made him wealthy, magnified the minutiae of his mistakes, and then warned his friends and colleagues against any attempt to stand by him. In the end, McGuire simply shrugged, and walked away. Roger Donway will critically examine this tragic story.
