OLD Media Moves

Bloomberg EIC Micklethwait: Court ruling is dangerous

John Micklethwait

Bloomberg News editor in chief John Micklethwait writes about the British Supreme Court decision that allows a company executive under investigation to keep his name out of print.

Micklethwait writes, “Today the Supreme Court found in ZXC’s favor, and that his brush with the law should be kept quiet.

“The significance of this judgment for freedom of speech is well hidden amid the 51 pages. A lot of the judgment is arcane, dealing with earlier court decisions and some of it criticizing Bloomberg. For instance, the justices fault our reporters for saying they had seen a letter of request about ZXC from the investigative authorities to a foreign counterpart, rather than saying they actually had a copy. They also question whether we had adequately engaged with the investigative authorities before publishing the material.

“I am not going to claim that we at Bloomberg got everything right, and for the record, we have never said that ZXC is guilty of anything. But wade through all the legalese, and the core of today’s judgment is devastatingly simple: In the court’s view, the privacy of this powerful person needed to be protected — and that trumped any public interest in our publishing the information in the letter of request.

“Let’s be clear about what privacy means in this case. This was not a story about what most of us might see as ZXC’s private life — a picture of his children, his health details, his romantic history. This was reporting on his business activities — and an investigation by the authorities into possible malfeasance at a huge company that could have an effect on many people who invested in it.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

Recent Posts

Indianapolis Biz Journal seeks a news editor

The Indianapolis Business Journal is looking for our next news editor, a role that focuses…

8 hours ago

Axios hires Berkowitz as ME for media and markets coverage

Axios has chosen Ben Berkowitz to be its next managing editor of business and markets.…

13 hours ago

Business Insider hires Ortega as director of newsroom operations

Business Insider editor in chief Jamie Heller sent out the following on Monday: I'm thrilled…

14 hours ago

Rest of World promotes Chandran to deputy editor

Rest of World editor in chief Anup Kaphle sent out the following on Monday: We are excited…

14 hours ago

FT hires Venugopal as India newsletter editor

The Financial Times has hired Veena Venugopal as its India newsletter editor. She has been working at…

15 hours ago

FT taps Parkin to be Middle East and Africa news editor

Benjamin Parkin has been named Middle East and Africa news editor at the Financial Times, based…

17 hours ago