Bloomberg knew about reporters tracking clients in 2011

Executives at Bloomberg LP have known about journalists using the company’s terminals to spy on clients at least since September 2011, reports Peter Lauria of BuzzFeed.

Lauria reports, “That month, Erik Schatzker, an anchor at Bloomberg TV and host of ‘Market Makers,’ was reprimanded for making on-air comments about using terminal data to track the activities of at least one story subject, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

“One source said the matter was a very big deal internally but was handled quietly.

“‘All the terminal guys freaked out,’ said this source, referring to Bloomberg’s army of salespeople who sell its $20,000 signature product. Bloomberg’s 315,000 terminal subscribers, not its news operation, make up the vast majority of its revenue, which last year totaled $7.9 billion.

“Schatzker declined comment, as did a Bloomberg representative, and a clip of Schatzker making the comment couldn’t immediately be located.

“Though no one outside Bloomberg’s Manhattan headquarters complained about Schatzker’s slip, executives at the time said they would disable the function that allowed journalists to access certain client data, said one source.”

Read more here. The practice of Bloomberg journalists tracking client information on the terminals has been criticized in recent weeks by some Wall Street banks, and Bloomberg has now blocked that information from its editorial staff.