Bloomberg editor discusses Freedom of Information Act

Matthew Winkler thinks that what we don’t know can kill us.

That was the message Bloomberg News editor-in-chief gave to students Wednesday, when he discussed the Freedom of Information Act and its relevance to a lawsuit being pursued by Bloomberg L.P.

In 2007, Bloomberg faced a challenge when trying to reveal the government’s investments in unsafe subprime mortgage-backed securities.

Mark Pittman, the Bloomberg reporter covering the unraveling of the debt market, found that following the market crash, the Federal Reserve entered the toxic debt market.

“Over the next two years the Federal Reserve became steeped in debt instruments that were opaque,” Winkler said.

But when Bloomberg requested records of where the money was invested, the reserve refused, stating that revealing the information might trigger an economic panic.

During that time, the Federal Reserve arranged billions in bailouts of Wall Street banks using taxpayer money.

Winkler said Bloomberg then sued the Federal Reserve in the name of transparency under the Freedom of Information Act, which states that government documents are public record.

The first court ruled in favor of Bloomberg, stating that the Federal Reserve has no evidence to prove that such disclosure would trigger a panic, and should therefore release the records.

The Reserve appealed twice more and both courts agreed with the previous decision, in favor of Bloomberg.

On Aug. 27, the Federal Reserve was given 60 days to appeal to the Supreme Court or release the previously disclosed documents.

“This is a subject that isn’t going to go away,” Winkler said.

Winkler told the journalism students in the audience that it is everyone’s responsibility to pursue transparency in such government actions.

“What we don’t know can kill us,” he said.

Bloomberg’s news arm started 20 years ago, when Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City and founder of financial company Bloomberg L.P., asked Winkler to help launch it.

Bloomberg News grew from a staff of 10 reporters covering bonds to employing more than 2,300 reporters in more than 70 countries.

“In just 20 years Bloomberg has managed to become one of the biggest and most influential news organizations in the world mainly because our audience moves the market and has stake in it,” Bloomberg News spokesman Ty Trippet said.

Contact the University editor at udesk@unc.edu.