Folkenflik: A change in culture at Bloomberg

David Folkenflik of National Public Radio spoke on “Here and Now” on Wednesday at lunch about the changes coming at Bloomberg News in the wake of the stepping down of editor in chief Matthew Winkler.

Folkenflik, in part, said:

Matthew Winkler came from the Wall Street Journal, one of the most storied titles in financial journalism., and he was creating something from scratch from Mike Bloomberg, so he wanted to create an ethos and culture….

This was news designed to keep investors and other financial professionals tuned to the terminal, locked in there. So they really were focusing about things that affected the fiunancial realm. They were taking the future into account how they could invest. No story was complete without that information….

The Bloomberg Way very much reflected Mike Bloomberg and it reflected the culture of the newsroom and the organization that grew around him. It’s controlling, it’s careful. It’s very cautious. …You can’t use adjectives. Let’s let our readers decide what to make of things….

Winkler saw beauty in control and precision. And yet it let to a scrupulous, rigorous culture there….

Bloomberg is suddenly is not being defined by those who are quite as precise and careful as Matthew Winkler.

Listen to his entire segment here.