(opinion) Michael Bloomberg demonstrates the dangers of billionaire-owned media

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/27/michael-bloomberg-demonstrates-the-dangers-of-billionaire-owned-media

Michael Bloomberg demonstrates the dangers of billionaire-owned media

Arwa Mahdawi

Wed 27 Nov 2019 07.00 GMT

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Michael Bloomberg! On Sunday, after weeks of dithering, the former mayor of New York swooped into the presidential race with lofty promises and deep pockets. “We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions,” Bloomberg announced. The 77-year-old billionaire can certainly afford to run for office, however; he kicked off his campaign with a record-breaking $31m (£24m) television ad buy, the most money a candidate has ever spent on a week of political advertising. Nothing says “democracy” like a billionaire buying his way into an election to try to unseat another billionaire.

You know what else just screams democracy? A presidential candidate owning an eponymous and influential news service that has been barred from criticising him. On Sunday, the editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News sent a memo to the company’s 2,700 journalists telling them they were not to do any investigative stories on Bloomberg’s campaign. While Bloomberg outlets will cover the day-to-day of the presidential contest, they will not be conducting in-depth investigations into their boss. Nor will they investigate his Democratic rivals. They will, however, continue to engage in journalism vis-a-vis Trump’s campaign.

It is astounding that a mainstream news organisation has effectively said it will scrutinise Trump but give the Democratic contenders an easy ride. It’s also one of the best things that could have happened to America’s incompetent incumbent. It plays right into Trump’s narrative that the crooked mainstream media are out to get him and I imagine he will milk this for all it’s worth.

Bloomberg charging into the presidential campaign without bothering to sell his news empire is, to borrow his own language, “reckless and unethical”. It undermines already fragile trust in the media and, arguably, it threatens free speech.
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