Bloomberg: No bias by Smythe in Shkreli coverage

Photographer: Paul Taggart/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Bloomberg News said it had found no bias in former reporter Christie Smythe’s coverage of convicted pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli, with whom she had a relationship, reports Katie Robertson of The New York Times.

Robertson reports, “‘Ms. Smythe’s conduct with regard to Mr. Shkreli was not consistent with expectations for a Bloomberg journalist,’ a Bloomberg News spokesperson said. ‘It became apparent that it would be best to part ways. Ms. Smythe tendered her resignation, and we accepted it.’

“Ms. Smythe said she had no regrets about how she had dealt with the ethically perilous issue of covering someone she had developed feelings for. ‘In journalism school, they don’t really tell you what to do when this comes up,’ she said. ‘I just tried to muddle through it and handle things as best as I could.’

“She added, ‘I hadn’t had a romantic relationship with him at the time. I hadn’t slept with him. I just cared about him. So it’s messy. How do you deal with that?'”

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.