What one newspaper editor thinks of Bloomberg’s China issue

Dan Barkin, the senior editor of The (Raleigh) News & Observer and its former business editor, writes about how he perceives the issue of whether Bloomberg News has killed stories critical of powerful people in China.

Barkin writes, “The N&O pays a good chunk of change to get news and information from Bloomberg. I do not want to worry if the news service is self-censoring in order to keep its reporters in China.

“But the larger problem is not Bloomberg’s. It is China’s.

“China’s biggest challenge is to keep its economy growing to provide jobs and a rising standard of living for its people. But China is plagued by corruption and self-dealing in its government and business elite. Its environmental problems are well-known. Professionals and entrepreneurs are leaving.

“China needs more, not less, scrutiny of inefficient state-controlled industries, of crooked bureaucrats on the take. Of massive land grabs. Of well-connected princelings being hired by Western companies that want to do business in China.

“Without transparency, China’s economy may falter under the weight of corruption and mismanagement. And prospective investors in China and Chinese companies need transparency. They need to know that the economic data that they are getting from official sources is not cooked, and that companies are disclosing accurate earnings reports.

“They rely on news organizations such as Bloomberg to give them comprehensive reporting from China. When they hear that Bloomberg may be pulling its punches, that does not inspire confidence in either Bloomberg or China.