USA · Bias: Pro-business
Michael Bloomberg / Bloomberg LP
Bloomberg News exists for a disarmingly honest reason: to make the Bloomberg Terminal — the $25,000-a-year data machine on every trading desk — more valuable. Founded in 1990 as an add-on to Michael Bloomberg's financial empire, it grew into a 2,700-journalist operation that owns market news the way Reuters owns wire copy. The catch has always been the man on the masthead. When your owner is one of the richest people alive and a sometime politician, 'independent coverage' gets complicated fast.
In November 2019, Michael Bloomberg entered the Democratic presidential primary — and Bloomberg News announced, in writing, that it would not investigate its owner. Or, to keep things 'fair,' any of his Democratic rivals. Donald Trump, not a Democrat, remained fair game. The Trump campaign responded by banning Bloomberg reporters from its events, and press critics across the spectrum called it a masterclass in why billionaire-owned newsrooms make people nervous. The primary run ended in months; the case study is taught forever.
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