Is Conde Nast Pitting Its Employees Against One Another?

Keith Kelly reports in today’s New York Post that Conde Nast has set up a fraud hotline to let staffers snitch on fellow employees.

Last fall, a hacker broke into Conde Nast’s computer system, flinging early copies of GQ, Vogue and other publications all over the Internet. To prevent further breaches of trust and budget, Conde set up the Fraud Reporting Hotline.

According to the memo sent by Chief Financial Officer John Bellando, employees are encouraged to turn in anyone guilty of “release of proprietary information, accounting/audit irregularities, falsification of company records, theft of goods/services/cash,” and “unauthorized discounts/payoffs.”

Publishers have been hit hard by this this perfect storm of ad recession combined with digital revolution, and Conde Nast is no exception. So — this is a very smart move.  But you have to admit: it sounds a little like a twisted psych experiment, the stuff of horror films and Lost.* All I can say is don’t piss off  the smoke monster. Or Anna Wintour.

*We’re gonna need some answers, Lost producers.

Follow us on Twitter.

Sign up for Mediaite's daily newsletter.