Reporters at News Corp.'s The Wall Street Journal had a story all written and ready to go on the ousting of managing editor Marcus Brauchli, but were forced by Journal higher-ups to sit on it, a source at the paper tells us. That decision resulted in the paper getting scooped on its own news. Granted, covering your own news organization is a tricky business, but you'd think Brauchli would have learned his lesson last year when he held back breaking news regarding News Corp. chair Rupert Murdoch's initial move to take over the paper, and got scooped on the news by CNBC, leading to an investigation.

This time around, the decision went up the chain of command to Alix Freedman, the departmental managing editor for standards and ethics, we're told. Freedman in turn asked Brauchli for his opinion, and he was of the opinion that the story should be put on the back burner-presumably while he finished ironing out the details of his own departure.