Posted: 3:39 am
September 10, 2008
MATT Winkler, the micromanaging editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, is relinquishing some of his responsibilities at the news service he helped launch with Mayor Bloomberg.
Known for his bow ties, tough journalistic standards and temper tantrums, Winkler has been at the helm for 20 years as the information and financial media company has grown into a behemoth worth billions.
In a video conference yesterday, Winkler reportedly said, "If we are going to get to the next level for the sake of everyone, I can't continue in the same role. . . It's the end of the beginning of Bloomberg News."
A company spokeswoman tried to downplay the issue of his changing role, which most insiders think has significant long-term implications for the way the company is run.
"There was an executive editors' meeting yesterday, and Matt did a video for news staff based on it," the spokeswoman said to Talking Biz News. "He's following up on some new workflow procedures that he said he'd be implementing in the news department back in July when the company did its reorganization."
One insider said a likely outcome would be that it unclogs the bottleneck of feature stories that sometimes pile up because Winkler insisted on viewing most major feature stories before they were transmitted.
Winkler's decision to take a step back comes on the heels of three well-publicized editorial snafus in recent weeks.
Bloomberg inadvertently transmitted to its subscribers raw copy for an obituary of Apple founder Steve Jobs, who was very much alive.
A few days later, the news service for a flickering second incorrectly re-wrote a New York Times article saying that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had been arrested 22 years ago for driving under the influence of alcohol. In reality, it was Palin's husband Todd who had been busted.
Then two days ago came the doozy, when the service erroneously transmitted a six-year- old story saying that United Airlines parent UAL had filed for bankruptcy. The story, which was from 2002, when UAL actually did file for bankruptcy, caused a monumental slide in UAL's shares once the headline hit the Bloomberg wires.
The insider said the screw-ups and the announcement of Winkler's relinquished responsibilities may have been merely coincidental - and is more tied to the changing of the guard.
