Other news outlets back Bloomberg

Several news organizations on Monday filed an amicus brief on behalf of Bloomberg LP, asking a federal court to uphold a decision that the U.S. Federal Reserve bank must disclose to Bloomberg confidential information about loans the Fed made to financial institutions, reports Dow Jones Newswires.

Dow Jones reporter Joseph Checkler writes, “The brief, which was filed in the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals by several media companies including Dow Jones & Co., New York Times Co., the Associated Press and Reuters America LLC, asked the court to uphold a lower court’s decision that would force the central bank to give Bloomberg records about some of its ‘last resort’ lending programs, including the discount window. Bloomberg originally requested the records under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.

“News Corp. is the parent company of Dow Jones & Co., which publishes this newswire. Reuters America LLC is a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters Corp..

“‘The number of people that joined, and the amount of effort they put into discussing these issues shows how important this is for transparency and for the freedom of information,’ said Amanda Bennett, an executive editor at Bloomberg, in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.

“A spokesman for the Fed said, ‘We will respond to the arguments in the amicus brief in our brief to the court.'”

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