William Launder of The Wall Street Journal writes that Bloomberg journalists used to go on sales calls to meet with some of the financial news and data organization’s largest clients — a reason why they had access to information about Wall Street bankers.
Launder writes, “Mr. Doctoroff described the terminals business and news operation as complementary: the large and lucrative terminals business helps pay for an editorial service that in turn draws subscribers by delivering market-moving news.
“But there is a ‘flip side’ to the business model too, Mr. Doctoroff said. ‘When you assure editorial independence, your reporters also do stories on very important clients that can create a level of discomfort sometimes. That’s the way it is, and we have to live with that tension,’ he said. Mr. Doctoroff said a strict division separates Bloomberg’s sales department from its news operations.
“Bloomberg isn’t alone in its practice of recruiting journalists to go on visits to customers. Senior editors from Dow Jones Newswires have occasionally participated in sales meetings to help explain different news products. Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, competes with Bloomberg in financial news and some other data services.
“A Dow Jones spokesperson confirmed that senior editors sometimes participate in sales meetings, but are careful to respect the company’s strict division between the news and business operations.”
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