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Monday, November 25, 2019

Bloomberg News Won't 'Investigate' Democrat Candidates


Bloomberg News won’t do investigative reporting on any Democratic presidential candidates now that the news organization’s multi-billionaire owner, Michael Bloomberg, has jumped into the 2020 race, but it intends to cover day-to-day campaign events normally, reports The Wall Street Journal citing a company statement.

The news service has historically not covered its own company or its owner, and its editor-in-chief said it will stick with that practice even though Mr. Bloomberg is now running for the highest office in the land.

“We will continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries,” John Micklethwait wrote in a memo to newsroom staffers on Sunday after Mr. Bloomberg announced his intention to run. “We cannot treat Mike’s Democratic competitors differently from him.”

The note said the news outlet would continue to investigate the Trump administration, as it is “the government of the day,” and that if Mr. Bloomberg were to win the Democratic nomination, the company would reassess how it would handle covering its owner. It also said the news service would publish investigative articles by other “credible journalistic institutions” or summaries of them on Mr. Bloomberg or other Democratic candidates. “We will not hide them,” the note said.

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