Pressler staying at New York magazine, not joining Bloomberg

Jessica Pressler, the New York magazine writer hired by Bloomberg to work in its investigative unit, is staying at the magazine in the wake of a scandal about a story she wrote about a high school investor whose portfolio turned out to be non-existent.

Joe Pompeo of Capital New York writes, “‘Can’t say that we expected things to turn out this way, but we feel very lucky to be keeping her on, and look forward to publishing more of her with pride,’ New York editor in chief Adam Moss wrote in a Friday afternoon staff memo obtained by Capital.

“Pressler came under scrutiny after a recent story she wrote, about a Stuyvesant High School senior who’d supposedly made $72 million trading stocks, was revealed to be false. The student subsequently admitted he had made the whole thing up, even though a fact-checker from New York claimed to have seen a bank statement to substantiate the claim. New York issued an apology for the error.

“Earlier this week, media blogger Jim Romenesko asked a Bloomberg spokesman if Pressler would still be joining the company’s famously stringent news wire, but the spokesperson declined to comment, as he did Friday afternoon when Capital asked if Pressler’s offer had been rescinded.”

Read more here.