Bloomberg gets hearing to contest judge’s order

Bloomberg Bloomberg LP will get an opportunity to contest a U.S. judge’s order requiring more than 100 people to disclose if they shared confidential information with the media company’s reporters about the bankruptcy of Molycorp Inc.

Jim Christie of Reuters writes, “U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi said during a telephone hearing on Wednesday that he erred a day earlier when he rejected Bloomberg’s motion for a hearing at which it could seek a stay.

“‘I had made a mistake in denying the motion,’ Sontchi said, adding the matter would go forward at a hearing on Friday morning in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

“Concerned about leaks from confidential mediation in Molycorp’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Sontchi last week ordered 123 people to disclose their contacts with Bloomberg reporters over the prior 60 days.

“Bloomberg had published three articles citing unidentified sources that went into efforts to find a buyer for Molycorp after the start of the confidential mediation.”

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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.