Trump campaign bars Bloomberg News from rallies
President Trump’s reelection campaign has banned Bloomberg News from covering its rallies and other public events, citing what it calls a biased coverage policy by the media company of one of his Democratic rivals.
The news organization, owned by billionaire and presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, has declared it will not investigate the former New York City mayor or any of his fellow Democrats vying for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination — but will continue to investigate Trump.
“The decision by Bloomberg News to formalize preferential reporting policies is troubling and wrong,” Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a written statement.
He called on Bloomberg to rescind its policy, saying most news organizations “don’t announce their biases so publicly.”
“Since they have declared their bias openly, the Trump campaign will no longer credential representatives of Bloomberg News for rallies or other campaign events,” Parscale said. “We will determine whether to engage with individual reporters or answer inquiries from Bloomberg News on a case-by-case basis.”
John Micklethwait, Bloomberg News editor in chief, defended the decision.
“The accusation of bias couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said. “We have covered Donald Trump fairly and in an unbiased way since he became a candidate in 2015 and will continue to do so despite the restrictions imposed by the Trump campaign.”
The 77-year-old billionaire and former New York mayor has three months to try to convince voters he should be the Democratic nominee for president. What do Californians think of him?
Bloomberg launched his candidacy last week — months after announcing that he had decided not to run. He is spending tens of millions of dollars on television advertising nationwide, but still faces an uphill battle against Democrats who joined the race nearly a year ago.
Howard Wolfson, a senior political advisor to Bloomberg, said on Twitter: “One week in and Mike is already under Trump’[s] skin.”
During much of his 2016 campaign, Trump refused to give media credentials to the Washington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico and other outlets whose coverage he disliked. Reporters got around the blacklisting by entering his rallies with the public. Trump lifted the ban two months before the general election.
Many know little to nothing about the former New York City mayor. Others have concerns about his vast wealth.
The Trump campaign’s decision drew a rebuke from Dean Baquet, the executive editor of the New York Times.
“We condemn any action that keeps quality news media from reporting fairly and accurately on the presidency and the leadership of the country,” he said.
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