Bloomberg staffers express concern about slow Floyd coverage

Bloomberg News staffers have expressed concerns in a meeting that the news organization hadn’t been aggressive enough in its coverage of the protests stemming from George Floyd’s killing, reports Khadeeja Safdar, Jeffrey Trachtenberg and Benjamin Mullin of The Wall Street Journal.

Safdar, Trachtenberg and Mullin report, “Prior to the recent protests, there had already been some tension at Bloomberg over the perception that Mr. Micklethwait, who was named editor in chief in 2015, has played down coverage of nonbusiness topics, according to people familiar with newsroom discussions.

“Some reporters felt Bloomberg News was too slow to cover Mr. Floyd’s death and the protests. Mr. Micklethwait praised the coverage the organization did do, while saying the outlet could have done more, including appointing a news czar on the topic.

“A spokeswoman for Bloomberg News said that since Mr. Floyd’s death, Bloomberg has featured more than 1,200 related stories on the front page of the Bloomberg Terminal from a variety of sources, including Bloomberg News.”