Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Bloomberg’s decision ‘not to investigate Mike’ is no surprise - corporate media never antagonizes its owners

Bloomberg’s decision ‘not to investigate Mike’ is no surprise - corporate media never antagonizes its owners

The decision by Bloomberg News not to investigate its now-presidential candidate owner Michael Bloomberg was met with much pearl-clutching online - but why the fuss? It is just admitting how corporate media works.

In a note to staffers, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait announced that the organization’s editorial board would be suspended and that a handful of its members would take a leave of absence to work for Bloomberg’s campaign. Most importantly, Micklethwait said, Bloomberg will continue the “tradition of not investigating Mike.” In the interest of fairness, the same policy will be extended to his Democratic rivals. Phew!


The statement was “extraordinary” according to a tweet from Washington Post writer Paul Farhi. Yet, the only extraordinary thing here is that Bloomberg said the quiet part out loud -and only because they didn’t really have any other choice.

It’s best not beat around the bush like many in mainstream media are: Michael Bloomberg is simply another billionaire attempting to buy a presidential election -and while most billionaires don’t have their own name-branded news networks, many have still been buying up struggling media companies for years. Why? Control the media and you control the narratives -about yourself, your business interests and virtually anything else that you have a stake in. It’s almost like the US is governed by a billionaire oligarchy and not ‘of, by and for’ the people. Who knew?

While Bloomberg's candid admission produced a wave of feigned shock among blue-ticked tweeters, many in mainstream media have consistently defended this exact state of affairs as normal and acceptable -particularly as it pertains to the Washington Post and its own billionaire owner Jeff Bezos (who, by the way, personally asked Bloomberg to run months ago).



While Post executive editor Marty Baron has denied that Bezos exerts any influence whatsoever over the newspaper’s coverage of himself or Amazon (with its hefty Pentagon contracts), one would need to be utterly deluded to believe him. How else can WaPo explain the fact that it published 16 negative articles on Bernie Sanders -one of Bezos’s biggest critics -across a 16-hour period in 2016? How can it defend the fact that in 2017, it disciplined a reporter for publishing an op-ed critical of Bezos in the Huffington Post, accusing him of an “egregious violation” of the paper's freelancing policy? The Post even prohibits its employees from posting anything on social media that “adversely affects” its advertisers, so Bezos himself is hardly up for grabs.

For an indication of how delicately the topic of billionaire owner influence must be treated by the Post, note that the newspaper’s reaction to the news that Bloomberg won’t investigate ‘Mike’ or his Democratic rivals was that this is bad because it might interfere with its coverage of… Donald Trump. Priorities, priorities.

Yet, you can’t criticize good liberal media like the Washington Post in polite society, for fear of being accused of attacking the free press, unleashing the wrath of other corporate-owned media entities like CNN -and ultimately finding yourself branded a Trumpian deplorable out to destroy journalism. There is, of course, an exception to this rule. Bashing the media is perfectly acceptable if done in defense of a centrist, billionaire class-protecting candidate like Hillary Clinton. Come on, keep up.

Things work in much the same way when it comes to mainstream reporting on US foreign policy -but this is even less polite to admit, because in addition to US forever wars being a financial boon for corporate media owners, the pro-war stance is also rooted in flag-waving patriotism and thus completely untouchable.

Pro-war guests are the norm on mainstream networks like CNN, Fox News and MSNBC -and the stats back this up. A FAIR study on media coverage of US military action in Syria and Iraq in 2014 found that out of 205 guests over a certain period, only 6 voiced opposition to US military action.

The best example of corporate financial interests directing war coverage is Phil Donahue’s firing from MSNBC for his anti-war views in the run up to the Iraq war -a time when the network’s reporters were required to be as gung-ho for the invasion as possible, lest they upset then-owner General Electric, which stood to profit handsomely from the war.


Corporate press, naturally, has a vested interest in pretending that owners never influence coverage or muzzle reporters. CNN incredibly even praised billionaires for “saving journalism”earlier this year. But censorship does not always take the form of a Bezos or a Bloomberg calling an editor and making direct demands. Journalists who are likely to challenge the status quo at mainstream outlets simply don’t get hired. The rest self-censor. Or, as Noam Chomsky put it to a BBC reporter: “I’m sure you believe everything you’re saying. But what I’m saying is if you believed something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.”


Bloomberg is there not to do journalism without fear or favor, but primarily to serve its owner’s interests. That’s how corporate media works. In a sense, we should be grateful that Micklethwait said it out loud. Instead of faking surprise, perhaps mainstream reporters should apply their outrage over corporate influence on journalism a little more broadly and treat it like the democracy-damaging issue that it really is.

That is, if they are willing to risk getting in trouble.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Mediators Edge Closer to Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Agreement
Germany Seeks Taliban Deal to Deport Afghan Migrants
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
×