Early Monday afternoon, the Trump campaign announced in a statement they would not be credentialing anyone from “Bloomberg News for rallies or other campaign events” due to the news outlet’s policy of banning their journalists from investigating founder Michael Bloomberg and his 2020 Democratic opponents but insisting they continue digging into President Donald Trump.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale began by calling Bloomberg News’s decision “troubling and wrong” to “formalize” their biases toward Democrats and against the President even though Parascale and his team “are accustomed to unfair reporting practices” except for the fact that “most news organizations don’t announce their biases so publicly.”
Parscale then leveled the blow that the campaign had carried out against numerous news organizations for large stretches of its successful 2016 operation:
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 inquires 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.
Predictably, Bloomberg News editor John Micklethwait hit back, squawking that “[t]he accusation of bias couldn't be further from the truth.”
Micklethwait added: “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.”
Tweeting about this latest turn, Axios’s Jonathan Swan said that the outlet “is full of talented, meticulous and fair-minded reporters who abhor the decision their bosses made” and since their founder “made clear he wouldn't tolerate critical coverage from his own outlet,” their “only choice was quit or execute his wishes.”
What an untenable position indeed.
To see the full December 2 statement from the Trump campaign, click “expand”
Trump campaign statement on Bloomberg News
“The decision by Bloomberg News to formalize preferential reporting policies is 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.
“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 inquires 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.”
- Brad Parscale, Trump 2020 Campaign Manager
