This story has been updated.
Former New York City Michael Bloomberg issued a directive that opinion journalists not attack Republican frontrunner Donald Trump after he complained about coverage, according to a report from New York Magazine.
Gabriel Sherman reported after Trump had a “scathing letter” about negative coverage from Bloomberg’s media arm hand-delivered to Bloomberg’s Upper East Side home, stories about the real estate mogul were subject to “special scrutiny.”
The original story quoted an unnamed high-level source saying that Bloomberg handed down an “edict” to ensure journalists did not attack Trump in their stories. Even a reference to Trump as “P. T. Barnum” was cut from copy, Sherman reported.
Sherman later added an update to clarify the order went out to “opinion journalists” for Bloomberg View, the media company’s opinion and commentary section, rather than news reporters.
“If you were putting Donald Trump in your piece, you would get special scrutiny,” the source told New York Magazine.
The story, published online Thursday afternoon, charts Bloomberg’s frustration with watching the GOP race from the sidelines, particularly the rise of his fellow New York billionaire.
Questions have lingered about how Bloomberg staffers are tasked with reporting on their namesake billionaire, and a Washington D.C. editor recently resigned over the tenuous situation.
