Bloomberg News is still not reporting on anything to do with Michael Bloomberg and Bloomberg News unless another media outlets breaks the story first, the New York Times reported this week.
Bloomberg stated in a report ranking wealth last year “Bloomberg News editorial policy is to not cover Bloomberg L.P. As a result Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, isn’t considered for this ranking.”
Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler told the Times the decision is to avoid the “inherent conflict of interest.” The decision against reporting on itself ends up leaving Bloomberg readers in the dark and Bloomberg in an awkward position for reporting on news involving the company,” the Times explained.
For example, the New York Times noted that Bloomberg didn’t report on Michael Bloomberg going back to work at Bloomberg News. “The company only issued a news release” and only “after the news was first reported by The New York Times.” And the Times noted that other big stories involving the company haven’t been covered by the company.
Columbia Journalism Review previously criticized Bloomberg News for not reporting on Bloomberg LP, as iMediaEthics wrote in 2012.
Bloomberg spokesperson Ty Trippet told iMediaEthics by e-mail, “This has been a longtime policy for us and we continue to follow it.”