Trump campaign blacklists Bloomberg News

Michael Bloomberg.

A leading media organization will be banned from covering President Donald Trump‘s campaign events.

On Monday, Trump campaign chief Brad Parscale took issue with Bloomberg News’ “preferential reporting policies” as “troubling and wrong.”

“Bloomberg News has declared that they won’t investigate their boss or his Democrat competitors, many of whom are current holders of high office, but will continue critical reporting on President Trump. As President Trump’s campaign, we are accustomed to unfair reporting practices, but most news organizations don’t announce their biases so publicly. Presented with this new policy from Bloomberg News, our campaign was forced to determine how to proceed,” Parscale added.

Michael Bloomberg, the former New York Mayor who owns the global news organization, is one of many Democratic candidates for President.

“Since they have declared their bias openly, the Trump campaign will no longer credential representatives of Bloomberg News for rallies or other campaign events. We will determine whether to engage with individual reporters or answer inquiries from Bloomberg News on a case-by-case basis. This will remain the policy of the Trump campaign until Bloomberg News publicly rescinds its decision,” Parscale noted.

The statement from the President’s campaign was a reaction to Bloomberg News announcing late last month how it would, and wouldn’t, cover candidates for President.

Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait just sent this note to staffers: "There is no point in trying to claim that covering this presidential campaign will be easy for a newsroom that has built up its reputation for independence in part by not writing about ourselves…" pic.twitter.com/RvfvpsZgDV

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) November 24, 2019

Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, noting that “no previous Presidential candidate has owned a journalistic organization of this size,” laid down ground rules last week.

Editorials, which have reflected Bloomberg’s views over the years, will be “suspended,” with key staffers taking a “leave of absence” to join the campaign.

“We will continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and will extend the same policy to his rivals,” Micklethwait wrote.

However, the Trump administration (the “government of the day”) will continue to be subject to investigation.

Bloomberg has already been advertising heavily, including in Florida.

TV ad spending by 2020 Democrats (thru 12/3)
Steyer: $63.4 million
Bloomberg: $37 million
Sanders: $6.7 million
Buttigieg: $5.1 million
Yang: $2.9 million
Biden: $1.7 million
Klobuchar: $1.3 million
Bennet: $1 million
Gabbard: $1 million
Warren: $926k
Delaney: $662k
Harris: $576k

— David Wright (@DavidWright_7) November 25, 2019

Whether his spend will translate to votes in primary states is an unknown at this point, but the complications of a presidential candidate owning a media network have already surfaced months before the first votes are cast.