Bloomberg: “We Are Not Ideological”
Bloomberg's @Tyrangiel: "One of our biggest advantages in politics is we are not ideological, we are not a sewer." http://t.co/LusHhH7js0
— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) July 2, 2014
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"It is customary to suggest that ideology belongs to the region of 'consciousness'. We must not be misled by this appellation which is still contaminated by the idealist problematic that preceded Marx. In truth, ideology has very little to do with 'consciousness', even supposing this term to have an unambiguous meaning. It is profoundly unconscious, even when it presents itself in a reflected form (as in pre-Marxist 'philosophy')."
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The nuttiest thing about their “non-ideological” argument is that Bloomberg is openly ideological about their news-gathering practices:
“The only journalism that matters is the kind that moves markets,” Mr. Secunda told the senior staff of Bloomberg News during a recent discussion in the seventh-floor auditorium of the company’s Lexington Avenue headquarters, according to one former Bloomberg journalist in attendance.
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I mean I assume that Tyrangiel and Bloomberg generally don't understand "moving markets"—or "the market" at all—as an ideological gesture in an ideological space. This is the great lie of "the free market," isn't it?
For some reason this reminds me of this brief brouhaha, which culminated in this email:
Alex,
I don't know you, but if you care about your body of work you might want to retract of your story “A blunt assessment for Bloomberg TV” since it blatantly and inaccurately reports something I didn’t, and wouldn’t, say. I would have been glad to refute your context-less one word quote before your story posted had you bothered to call or email, but you didn't. Nor did you reach out to anyone else at Bloomberg. Personally this is a minor annoyance, but your story is an insult to a lot of really hard working, talented people. I encourage you to publish this email, and retract your inaccurate story.
Sincerely,
Josh Tyrangiel
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"[T]hose who are in ideology believe themselves by definition outside ideology: one of the effects of ideology is the practical denegation of the ideological character of ideology by ideology: ideology never says, 'I am ideological'."
