Other media organizations should join Bloomberg lawsuit

Dean Starkman of the Columbia Journalism Review argues that other media companies should join in Bloomberg LP‘s lawsuit against the Federal Reserve that seeks to force it to disclose the collateral behind $2 trillion in loans it’s given to banks.

Starkman writes, “As the public’s independent eyes and ears on the government, news organizations, can do no less than everything in their power to put a spotlight on these public expenditures. The power to tax and spend is probably government’s most basic one. Watching those, to me, is a news organization’s first order of business. It is Job One.

“Freedom of Information Act requests are a commonplace newsgathering tool, and so, for that matter, are lawsuits to force disclosure when the law is violated. The Bloomberg suit is a reasonable, appropriate and measured tactic by a mainstream news organization. And the suit is manifestly in the public interest.

“News organizations compete, but from time to time they cooperate on matters of press freedom and transparency. This is one of those times.”

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