Bloomberg’s candidacy puts his media company in a tough spot

In a stunning memo to staff, Bloomberg News said Sunday the news organization will not investigate 2020 presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg or his 2020 rivals during its coverage of the upcoming election, according to a memo obtained by The Hill. 

“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. We cannot treat Mike’s democratic competitors differently from him,” Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait wrote in the memo. 

So if you’re keeping score at home, Bloomberg News will not report on anything uncovered on any of the many candidates running for the Democratic nomination, but will not afford the same courtesy (for lack of a better term) to the Republican currently occupying the White House. 

“For the moment, our P&I team will continue to investigate the Trump administration, as the government of the day,” wrote Micklethwait. 

What an absolute joke. If I were a political reporter at Bloomberg, I’d be updating my LinkedIn page and sending out resumes immediately. 

Michael Bloomberg founded the company bearing his name in 1981 and built it into an enormous success while currently holding an estimated 88 percent of its shares. The 77-year-old former New York mayor is worth an estimated $52 billion, making him among the top 10 wealthiest people in the world.  

Also announced on Sunday, Bloomberg will suspend the board of directors running Bloomberg Opinion, with Micklethwait sharing that Tim O’Brien, David Shipley and other board members will be taking a leave of absence. 

Some needed time off with the family? 

Winter in St. Barts? 

Naah. They’re all joining Bloomberg’s campaign.   

“This is not the first time I’ve stepped away to run for office. And like the last time, we have put in place an outstanding leadership team to take the reins,” Bloomberg said in a separate memo to employees on Sunday.

One former Bloomberg News employee, however, said it is “completely unrealistic” for the news organization to cover the candidate fairly.

“I think they are woefully unprepared for this. I think that they think this will be just like it was at City Hall where they’re just going to say, ‘Oh, there’s a firewall and we’re going to disclose it and we’re going to be super careful,’ but that’s bulls–t,” the former employee said.

“To cover a presidential election fairly, you’re going to have to cover Bloomberg like everyone else,” the former employee continued. “That means taking oppo [opposition research]. And that means digging into his past … it’s just silly to believe there will be an acceptable and fair way for them to cover his campaign.”

In 2018, Bloomberg said in an interview with an Iowa radio station that he would consider divesting himself completely from the company if he ran for president. “The company would either go into a blind trust or I would sell it,” Bloomberg told Radio Iowa on Dec. 5. “But I think at my age, if selling it is possible, I would do that.

“At some point, you’re going to die anyway, so you want to do it before then,” he added. 

And that’s exactly what Bloomberg should have done — if he truly wanted to maintain the integrity of his news organization. 

“No doubt, many of you are already thinking of possible complexities that may arise. My response is: Let’s get back to work. We can spend a long time debating ‘what ifs.’ I would rather that we got on with the journalism and let that speak for itself,” Micklethwait concluded in his memo.  

It will certainly speak for itself — at least, the parts the organization is allowed to speak about.  

Got some damaging information on [insert Democratic candidate here]? Kill the story.  

Got something on Trump? It’s a front-page headline with additional resources assigned to finding more. 

Bloomberg for many years has been a respected news organization with no real controversies to speak of, a rarity in this current environment of the Fourth Estate.

But after this latest announcement regarding what’s fair game and what will be omitted now that its founder is a presidential candidate, it’s been put in an impossible position.

And there are still some in this business who openly wonder why perception of media, fairly or unfairly, is so low. 

Joe Concha is a media reporter for The Hill and co-host of “WOR Tonight with Joe Concha” weeknights on 710-WOR in New York. Follow him on Twitter @JoeConchaTV.