IS IT A MEDIA ENRON? There certainly seem to be funny numbers, and inadequate auditors:

In addition to its massive self-examination of circulation problems at its own paper, Newsday of Melville, N.Y., today also examined, as it it put it, “questions about who is minding the store” elsewhere, with special focus on the Audit Bureau of Circulations. And, according to Newsday, “some Wall Street analysts and advertisers now say the system is broken” at ABC.

It quoted a former, unnamed ABC employee: “ABC sends their best auditors to the biggest newspapers, like the Chicago Sun-Times and Newsday,” two papers embroiled in the current circulation scandal. “So what this is saying is, if their best auditors went into these papers, they kept signing off on no-good circulation year after year.

“You guys are cheating, granted, but ABC’s going in and saying you are correct. How come they’re not the ones who have to pay the advertisers now?”

I think that there’s more to be discovered, here.

UPDATE: More here:

In a surprise announcement, Tribune Co. today replaced its publishers at Newsday and Hoy — two newspapers reeling from circulation scandals.

What’s next?