Bloomberg memo complains of 'fear and mistrust' in Washington bureau

By: mryash on 12:04 AM

By DYLAN BYERS  6/17/15 6:49 PM EDT

Back in April, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait dispatched two of his top lieutenants to Washington to address longstanding frustrations in the D.C. bureau, where staffers felt that they were being marginalized by the Bloomberg Politics project in New York. The lieutenants -- chief content officer Josh Tyrangiel and senior executive editor Marty Schenker -- pledged to review Bloomberg’s political coverage and rethink how to best use their resources.

Two months on, it appears the efforts haven't borne much fruit. This week, Bloomberg News senior writer Dawn Kopecki sent an eight-page memo to Tyrangiel and Schenker detailing numerous complaints. The memo, first reported on by Huffington Post's Michael Calderone and obtained Wednesday by the On Media blog, provides an in-depth look at a bureau suffering from “low morale,” “high employee turnover,” a “leadership void" and a “climate of fear and mistrust.”

"Bloomberg News is without a doubt in the midst of major shift as the news organization stumbles its way through a new media world that requires us to remain nimble and receptive to change," Kopecki's memo begins. "Some of the issues interfering with the productivity of the D.C. bureau are fairly simple and obvious, such as the lack of a strong leader that New York editors also trust and respect. Some of the issues are fairly nuanced and complex, like a climate that makes editors and reporters afraid to speak their minds, challenge bad ideas and make bold news choices. Some of the issues impacting productivity in D.C. aren't specific to the bureau and apply more broadly to the entire news organization."

"I've personally been at Bloomberg News for seven years now, three of which have been in D.C., and I've never seen morale lower," Kopecki continues. "I've never seen the organization more bloated, never seen more redundancy and unnecessary overlap on beats, among editors and across platforms."
Here is that memo in its entirety, as forwarded from an anonymous source. Bloomberg has declined to comment on the memo or its contents: