Page 2 - aruba-today-20191125

A2 UP FRONT
Monday 25 noveMber 2019

Continued from Front a run earlier in the year, people will go elsewhere
Bloomberg started his news Bloomberg had pledged for in-depth political cover-
service in 1990 to comple- to "separate myself" from age."
ment the financial informa- his foundation and pri- Kiely said Michael Bloom-
tion he sold to customers. It vate businesses should he berg should step complete-
has since expanded, with launch a campaign. On ly away from his news orga-
its news available in many Sunday, though, it was un- nization and let it operate
formats, including a televi- clear whether he was still independently. Instead,
sion and radio network and committed to doing so and he's undermining the news
Bloomberg Businessweek how specifically he might organization "he worked so
magazine. separate himself from his hard and spent so much
The entry of Bloomberg into many business interests. money to build up."
the presidential race also At his news service, Mick- It's good that the news
raises potential conflict-of- lethwait said, Bloomberg service has a structure in
interest questions involving reporters will still cover place to consider issues as
his extensive business hold- polls, policies and how the they arise, said Kelly Mc-
ings, which go well beyond Bloomberg campaign is Bride, senior vice president
his news service. Bloom- faring, much as it does for at Poynter and chair of the
berg's businesses, which in- all candidates. But it will not Craig Newmark Center for
clude selling financial data do investigative stories on Ethics and Leadership. But
services, employ more than Bloomberg — or, to be fair, every day they will have to
19,000 people in 69 coun- on any of the other Demo- consider tough decisions
tries. cratic contenders. It will about how to cover the In this Nov. 30, 2018 file photo, former New York Mayor Michael
Experts say those holdings continue to investigate the candidacy, she said. Bloomberg speaks with members of the media at The Bridge
could create financial con- Trump administration, how- "I can't imagine that they're Way School in Philadelphia.
flicts stemming from Bloom- ever, he said. Micklethwait not going to have to deal Associated Press
berg's policy positions, both noted that the situation is with the temptation of self-
domestic and foreign, un- different because Trump is censorship," she said. speak for itself." "He needs to pledge that if
less he takes decisive ac- already president and so The Bloomberg Opinion ser- Regarding his business in- he's elected president, ba-
tion to formally remove the work of his administra- vice will no longer carry un- terests, Bloomberg should sically all his companies get
himself from his businesses. tion is fair game. signed editorials, since they make a clear decision right sold," he said, adding that
"We want people to have If other credible news or- usually reflected Bloom- away, said Richard Painter, should include changing
confidence that folks in ganizations do investiga- berg's point of view. It will a professor at University the governance of Bloom-
government, including the tive stories on Bloomberg or continue to run opinions of Minnesota Law School. berg's charitable founda-
president, are acting out other Democrats, the news by columnists and some Painter served as chief tion.
of a sense of concern for service will summarize them columns from outsiders, White House lawyer for eth- It's a different conversation
the public interest, not the or publish them in full, he although none of the lat- ics under President George than when he served as
vision of what their private said. ter will be about the cam- W. Bush from 2005 to 2007. mayor of New York, Painter
interests are," said Kathleen "We will not hide them," paign. Bloomberg should divest said. "The mayor of New
Clark, a law professor at Micklethwait said. David Shipley, who has heavily from his businesses, York doesn't regulate the fi-
Washington University in St. To anyone who thinks the overseen Bloomberg Opin- Painter said. nancial industry," he said.q
Louis who focuses on legal news service shouldn't ion as its senior executive
and government ethics. cover Bloomberg at all, he editor, is leaving to join the
Every president since Jimmy said Bloomberg News "has campaign, Micklethwait
Carter has acted to sell as- handled these conflicts be- said. Some other mem-
sets that could create con- fore — and proved our in- bers of the editorial board
flicts of interest, Clark said dependence." will also take leaves of ab-
— except President Donald The situation presents an sence, he said.
Trump, who has provoked ethical tightrope. When Chief Content Officer
broad criticism for remain- Bloomberg was consider- Marty Schenker has been
ing financially connected ing a candidacy in 2016, asked to oversee the cam-
to his businesses. the news service's politics paign coverage.
Senior advisers for Bloom- news director in Washing- "This is a structure that can
berg did not immediately ton, Kathy Kiely, quit and cope with many eventu-
answer questions Sunday said she did not feel she alities," Micklethwait wrote.
about whether he would could do her job without "No doubt, many of you
create a firewall of some covering Bloomberg ag- are already thinking of pos-
sort between himself and gressively. sible complexities that may
his many entities, includ- Kiely said Sunday that the raise. My response is: let's
ing his foundation based in new rules "relegate his polit- get back to work. We can
Manhattan. ical writers to stenography spend a long time debat-
When asked about po- journalism ... it's not satisfy- ing 'what ifs.' I would rather
tential conflicts of interest ing for journalists and it's not that we got on with the
when he was considering satisfying for readers. I think journalism and let the work