Team Trump Bans Bloomberg Reporters After 'Troubling and Wrong' Coverage Decision
Some media bias is too much for even the Trump campaign.
President Donald Trump’s re-election team is used to negative coverage — he’s been the focus of unrelenting, negative news reports since before he even won the Republican nomination in 2016.
But the decision last week by Bloomberg News to avoid investigative coverage of any contender for the Democratic nomination in 2020 because billionaire Michael Bloomberg is running for the same prize was too much.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale announced Monday that the campaign will ban Bloomberg News reporters from receiving campaign event press credentials unless Bloomberg News announces the policy has been reversed, according to Fox News.
“The decision by Bloomberg News to formalize preferential reporting policies is troubling and wrong,” Parscale said in a statement. “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 organizations don’t announce their biases so publicly. …
“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.”
JUST IN: Trump campaign manager @parscale announces campaign will no longer credential Bloomberg News reporters because of outlet’s policy to not investigate founder @Mikebloomberg and Dem presidential candidates, but continuing investigating the Trump administration: pic.twitter.com/UTqOWaCLj1
— Ed O’Keefe (@edokeefe) December 2, 2019
John Micklethwait, editor in chief of Bloomberg News, objected to the decision, Fox reported.
“The accusation of bias couldn’t be further from the truth. We have covered Donald Trump fairly and in an unbiased way since he became a candidate in 2015 and will continue to do so despite the restrictions imposed by the Trump campaign,” Micklethwait said, according to Fox.
On social media, the campaign’s announcement was greeted by numerous Trump critics as though it were a form of censorship.
But there was also a fair amount of support.
I’m sure they won’t grant press credentials to Liz Warren’s paid campaign staffers or Bernie’s, either. Why make an exception for the Mole Man?
— John Sheridan (@JohnSheridan12) December 2, 2019
I love it it’s called fair play!
— AztecDiego (@JimDenny52) December 2, 2019
Most if not all opinion feeds should lose their press credentials. There are few news organizations
— JeffT (@jjt1142) December 2, 2019
That last one probably reflects the opinions of a fair number of Americans.
After all, CNN, The New York Times and other news organizations are regularly accused — often with good reason — of an anti-Trump bias.
But they have all stopped short of making an open declaration that they would make no effort to uncover negative information about Democratic contenders for the presidency while vowing not to shy away from investigating the Trump administration.
And some bias, apparently, is too much for the Trump campaign — even after more than three years.
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