The New York Times has spoken with unnamed employees of Bloomberg News in Hong Kong who say that editors chose not to run a story on ties between a wealthy businessman and China’s top leaders:
The investigative report they had been working on for the better part of a year, which detailed the hidden financial ties between one of the wealthiest men in China and the families of top Chinese leaders, would not be published.
In the call late last month, [editor in chief Matthew] Winkler defended his decision, comparing it to the self-censorship by foreign news bureaus trying to preserve their ability to report inside Nazi-era Germany, according to Bloomberg employees familiar with the discussion.
“He said, ‘If we run the story, we’ll be kicked out of China,’ ” one of the employees said. Less than a week later, a second article, about the children of senior Chinese officials employed by foreign banks, was also declared dead, employees said.
Mr. Winkler said in an email on Friday that the articles in question were not killed. “What you have is untrue,” he said. “The stories are active and not spiked.” [Source]
The story also alleges that Bloomberg has self-censored stories that appear on their news terminals operating in China.
Last year, the Bloomberg website was blocked in China after it ran an investigative piece on the wealth of President Xi Jinping’s family. Since then, some Bloomberg reporters have not been granted new permits to live in China, according to the New York Times article.
A year ago, the New York Times website was blocked, and some of their journalists have since had difficulty acquiring Chinese visas, after the paper ran an exposé on the family wealth of former Premier Wen Jiabao.
Taiwan’s Next Media Animation has already created an animated take on the Bloomberg story:
On Twitter, the story became a hot topic, especially among members of the Beijing press corps:
To put the Winkler argument on self-censorship in Nazi Germany in context, consider the book Hitlerland by @andrewnagorski
— Philip Pan (@panphil) November 9, 2013
Louis Lochner, AP's correspondent covering the Third Reich, later recalled: "Our orders from our bosses were to tell no untruth, but…
— Philip Pan (@panphil) November 9, 2013
… but to report only as much of the truth, without distorting the picture, as would enable us to remain at our posts."
— Philip Pan (@panphil) November 9, 2013
So, Bloomberg editor compared China to Nazi Germany. I've heard that before…from the hardest-core dissidents in China.
— Gady Epstein (@gadyepstein) November 9, 2013
Wouldn't be shocked if Bloomberg ends up publishing that story. Editor did deny story's been spiked. If so, a win for whistleblowers at BBG?
— Gady Epstein (@gadyepstein) November 9, 2013
Would love to see honest accounting by every Western media organization of stories that have been spiked/held/changed out of fear of China.
— Kathleen McLaughlin (@kemc) November 9, 2013
