-By Warner Todd Huston
Earlier in November it was revealed that Bloomberg News was self-censoring stories that angered Chinese authorities in order to keep access to government officials. Now the reporter who leaked that story to sources outside Bloomberg has been suspended.
On November 8, The New York Times reported that Bloomberg had spiked several stories that were thought to have been angering Chinese authorities.
Bloomberg editor Matthew Winkler was reported as having said in a company conference call that the self-censorship was akin to foreign news bureaus preserving their ability to report inside Nazi Germany during WWII.
Winkler strenuously denies the report.
The story came from then unnamed Bloomberg insiders, one insider saying that if they ran certain stories, “we’ll be kicked out of China.”
Several Bloomberg employees in Hong Kong said Mr. Winkler made clear in his call that his concerns were primarily about continuing to have reporters work in China, not protecting company revenues. Even so, they said, he gave the listeners a clear impression that the company was in retreat on aspects of its coverage of the world’s second-largest economy, a little more than a year after it locked horns with a confident Chinese leadership that has shown itself willing to punish foreign news organizations that cross it.
Now, on November 15, Bloomberg has suspended a reporter who the company thinks served as one of the leakers.
Reporter Michael Forsthye was escorted from Bloomberg’s Hong Kong offices on November 14 after being placed on unpaid leave.
This comes as Bloomberg employees across the world brace for a new round of layoffs, insiders say.
Bloomberg has not released a statement on Forsthye’s suspension. Insiders report that he will likely be fired.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, MrConservative.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, Wizbang.com, among many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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