Categories: OLD Media Moves

Bloomberg News editor rant about reporter mistake now online

Gawker’s Nick DentonÂ has posted an audio of Bloomberg News editor in chief Matthew Winkler yelling at reporters who were complaining about the firing of another reporter.

Denton wrote, “Winkler’s temper is so titanic that colleagues have wondered whether he should be on medication. One classic tale: On a visit to the Tokyo bureau of the wire service, at a restaurant meal, the former Wall Street Journal reporter famously began banging the wall to emphasise his points, so forcefully that the lights started flickering, to the consternation of those on other tables.

“But we have something better than office legend. A radio reporter called Jeff Weiser was told to pre-write a story on an expected change in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, so that it could be published the instant the news was official. At Bloomberg, no one works for just one service; the company tries to tie together radio, TV and newswires. The system is complicated, and it’s easy to make a mistake.

“According to a colleague, Weiser’s brief headline was a released a few minutes early, as a result of a technical glitch. When he was fired, colleagues remonstrated with Winkler, and begged for Weiser’s reinstatement. Here’s the ‘deranged bowtie’, quaking with rage. ‘No. The enemy was not the computer. That’s wrong. Excuse me! The enemy was not the computer. That’s why we are having this meeting. I figured that a lot of you were going to think this way. It’s wrong! It’s not the computer, it’s the human.’ (Insert more exclamation marks.)

“A resourceful reporter taped Winkler’s tirade. And it’s spread among survivors of his rule. Now, for the first time, here’s the 26-second audio clip.”

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heywood j says:
January 14, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Well, this is SHOCKING, SHOCKING......unless of course one worked at Bloomberg.
In which case this is just another day at the office, a mild pep talk from the big man. This sounds like Winkler in a great mood.
Seriously, life is too short for this kinda crap.