New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet criticized the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee’s decision to stop giving press credentials to Bloomberg News reporters.
The decision to bar the outlet comes after Bloomberg News announced its new editorial policy for covering the 2020 elections after its owner, Michael Bloomberg, entered the presidential race. In their new structure, which a former bureau chief has attacked, Bloomberg News will not investigate Bloomberg or any of the Democratic presidential candidates but will continue to do so regarding President Trump.
“Bloomberg News is one of the largest and most influential news organizations in the world. We condemn any action that keeps quality news media from reporting fairly and accurately on the presidency and the leadership of the country,” Baquet said in a statement to Politico‘s Michael Calderone.
NYT editor @deanbaquet condemns Trump campaign’s decision to deny credentials to Bloomberg News pic.twitter.com/0zZYjjNugM
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) December 2, 2019
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale made the announcement on Monday, saying in a statement, “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.”
Calderone also noted on Twitter that it remains unclear if Bloomberg reporters traveling with the president in the White House pool to events will be affected when the president hosts his campaign rallies.
RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said they would follow the campaign’s lead and “will no longer credential Bloomberg representatives.”
Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait pushed back on the notion that the newsroom’s Trump coverage was biased, and said it would continue to cover the president “fairly & in an unbiased way … despite the restrictions imposed by the Trump campaign,” and added that “the accusation of bias couldn’t be further from the truth.”
