Do you have any sources about this corporate culture? I haven't heard anything and when I'm given a bunch of vague clues about how things are supposedly like at News Corp. it doesn't really make me think otherwise. Innocent til proven guilty and all that.
My biggest source is their product, and the consistent lies and mistruths they proliferate. The movie "Out Foxed" also goes into some details about this, there's also a high-profile case involving growth hormones in cows and Monsanto, various other scandals, issues, etc. Never read a story specifically about it, but I'm sure there's something out there.
Yes, quitting isn't easy, but its preferable to going to jail and being shunned forever in the business world, wouldn't you say? My dad did something like that. He was asked to lie about his company's product to customers and he quit because he'd rather be unemployed for a few months rather than lose his job and basically be blacklisted due to his involvement.
I know about Millgram's experiment as well, all business students learn something about ethics nowadays. Yeah, authority has a lot of effect on people's judgment, but that doesn't mean people are left with no options. There's always an option. Maybe ethics just needs to be pushed more strongly in colleges to get that point across, since between Enron, Worldcom, and News Corp people haven't quite gotten the idea yet.
You're missing some of the brunt of Milgram's experiment by putting it that way, though. When commands come from an authority figure, they are often not even seen as wrong, there's no desire to even have some other option. It's seen as ethical and okay because an authoritative figure is telling you to do it.
Also, interesint side note about that last sentence... psychopaths are 4x more likely to be the CEO of a major company then the general populace. I agree ethics should be taught more, but I think that's true of philosophy in general, and well before college.