Fmr Bloomberg News Director Slams Outlet for Saying They Won’t Investigate Owner: ‘Really Undermines’ Their Credibility

Kathy Kylie, former Washington News Director for Bloomberg Politics, slammed her old outlet on Sunday for their editorial policies on Michael Bloomberg and his new 2020 Democratic candidacy.

Bloomberg News has been under criticism ever since a staff memo revealed in November that their reporters will “continue our tradition of not investigating Mike (and his family and foundation) and we will extend the same policy to his rivals in the Democratic primaries.” Kylie gave an interview to CNN’s Brian Stelter about this on Sunday, and she started by recalling how she left Bloomberg in 2016 when the former New York City mayor was thinking about jumping into that presidential race.

“This is very similar to what happened and what really precipitated my decision to leave Bloomberg,” Kylie said. “The same sort of directions were given, only it was not yet an official campaign. But I felt that that wasn’t ethical, and it was just an untenable situation for me as the assigning editor to be in. Unfortunately, they’ve had four years to think about this, and they haven’t come up with a better solution. I’m really sorry to see this.”

Kylie said the “least-terrible option” Bloomberg News could’ve taken with their coverage was “the obvious option [which] is you cover Mike Bloomberg the way you would cover any other candidate, and you cover every candidate aggressively.”

“The press is a public trust, and I think most people who own news organizations understand that,” she said. “People who work for these publications aren’t serving the owners. They’re serving the people, the readers, the viewers, the listeners, and so I think if you look at it that way, it’s a very easy call to make.”

“This is unprecedented in some ways in the sense that Mike Bloomberg is running for president, but it’s not unprecedented for a rich person to own a news organization and to be covered by the news organization. It happens all the time. I just don’t understand why they’re making this decision. It really undermines the credibility of the organization Mike Bloomberg invested so much money in. As a business decision, it doesn’t make sense.”

Watch above, via CNN.