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Bloomberg News announces it will not investigate Mike Bloomberg or any other Democrats, only Trump
Bloomberg News announces it will not investigate Mike Bloomberg or any other Democrats, only Trump American Thinker, Nov 25, 2019
The editor in chief of Bloomberg News announced in a memo to his staff that they will not being doing investigations of their founder and of his rivals for the Democrats' nomination. But President Trump remains a target. Michael Calderone of Politico:
[i]Bloomberg News will report on Michael Bloomberg's 2020 presidential campaign, though will not investigate the candidate or his Democratic rivals, the company's top editor told staff on Sunday.
"We will write about virtually all aspects of this presidential contest in much the same way as we have done so far," editor-in-chief John Micklethwait told staff in a Sunday memo. "We will describe who is winning and who is losing. We will look at policies and their consequences. We will carry polls, we will interview candidates and we will track their campaigns, including Mike's."[/quote]
Not only will the news organization — including a wire service, a magazine, and television channels — place its thumb on the scale by laying off the Dems, but it will help staff the Bloomberg campaign:
[...]
I imagine that Bloomberg News has spent a lot of money on election law attorneys and believes that this policy does not count as an in-kind campaign contribution. Failing to act as an investigative reporting agency is hard to construe as a positive contribution, but even so, it smells bad.
We can expect President Trump to hammer this decision over and over again as part of his attack on fake news.
This decision can't help the professional reputation of Bloomberg News, and it creates all sorts of ethical and professional dilemmas for the newsmen and newswomen who work there.
The biggest cost of his campaign may not be advertising and organizing expenses, but the damage to the reputation and credibility of the news business that Michael Bloomberg built.
QuoteNot only will the news organization — including a wire service, a magazine, and television channels — place its thumb on the scale by laying off the Dems, but it will help staff the Bloomberg campaign:
Just how stupid is Michael Bloomberg to hand this club to POTUS?
He said that the organization will continue its tradition of not investigating Bloomberg, or his family and foundation, and will extend that policy to his rivals in the Democratic primary out of fairness.
That policy will not be applied to the Trump administration as it is 'the government of the day'. Investigative coverage of Trump will be reassessed should Bloomberg be picked as the Democratic candidate for president next fall, Micklethwait said.
Micklethwait acknowledged that the company has entered uncharted territory as 'no previous presidential candidate has ever owned a journalistic organization of this size' - and said that the new policies are not an 'exhaustive rulebook' but rather a set of 'basic principles'.
The largest changes will be instituted within Bloomberg Opinion, as the candidate has historically had the most contact with and influence over that department, Micklethwait said.
Executive editors David Shipley and Tim O'Brien will both be taking leaves of absence to join Bloomberg's campaign, along with other members of the Editorial Board.