Judge denies Bloomberg’s request to stay order on sources

Bloomberg A U.S. judge denied on Tuesday a request by Bloomberg LP to stay an order requiring more than 100 people to disclose information they shared with its reporters about a bankrupt mining company, which Bloomberg said inhibits its free speech rights.

Tom Hals of Reuters writes, “U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi in Wilmington, Delaware curtly dismissed the request by Bloomberg’s legal team to stay his order for 48 hours so the company could appeal.

“Last week, Sontchi ordered 123 people to disclose by the end of Tuesday their contacts with Bloomberg reporters regarding Molycorp Inc over the prior 60 days.

“Lawyers for Bloomberg declined to comment after the hearing, referring to a statement issued after last week’s order.

“‘The order issued by the Delaware bankruptcy court last Thursday strikes at the heart of the First Amendment and the fundamental mission of a free press: to provide transparency into important public events,’ John Micklethwait, Bloomberg’s editor-in-chief, said in the statement.

“Bloomberg can still ask the U.S. District Court to stay the order before the end of Tuesday.”

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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.