Uber Exec Wants To Dig Up Dirt On News Media: Report

A senior executive at the privately held ride-sharing company Uber suggested having researchers dig up embarrassing information about journalists who criticize the company, BuzzFeed reported Monday. Uber senior vice president Emil Michael made the remarks at an event in New York which he thought was off the record, the report said. Michael raised the possibility of spending "a million dollars" to hire opposition researchers and employ Nixon-style tactics against critical journalists and "give the media a taste of its own medicine," according to the report, based on the account of a BuzzFeed editor invited to the event but not told that the remarks were not for publication. Michael cited unfavorable press coverage by PandoDaily website editor Sarah Lacy and said a team of investigators could prove a very specific claim about Lacy's personal life, BuzzFeed said without mentioning the claim in question.