If the owner of a company called Innovative Market Systems ran for office, would that limited partnership supplier of financial data have to change the way it did business? We ask because long ago, Innovative Market Systems changed its name to Bloomberg LP. It grew a news division, and its boss is now seeking the White House.
We like Mike Bloomberg. We're the only paper to endorse him in every one of his elections. But in telling the reporters at his eponymous company to keep their noses out of his business, he's making a big mistake.
Some change of practice was inevitable. Unsigned editorials like the one you're reading now reflect the views of the publisher. It is therefore understandable that Bloomberg is suspending unbylined opinion pieces while the CEO is on the campaign trail. A roomful of people churning out arguments for him and against his rivals would be indistinguishable from a super PAC.
But it makes no sense for talented reporters on the payroll, men and women especially adept at dissecting financial records, to refrain from investigating him and other Democratic contenders. If they come across something important about say, Joe Biden, are they supposed to bury it?
Meanwhile, probing of President Trump and his administration will continue, as it must. So perception of a political conflict remains no matter what.
Readers understand disclaimers, like the standard one now appended whenever Mike Bloomberg of Bloomberg LP comes up in Bloomberg News reporting.
Keep that text on the clipboard, take off reporters' handcuffs and let them keep finding the facts.
