Bloomberg News issued an apology on Monday for a recent incident where they published a story prematurely regarding a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia. This story was released four hours before the White House lifted the embargo on the exchange. Editor-in-chief John Micklethwait addressed the issue in a memo to staff, confirming that the publication had violated ethical standards. The company stated that they had taken disciplinary action against the employees responsible for the error, without specifying the number or identities of those individuals involved in the incident.
Micklethwait personally reached out to the former prisoners mentioned in the story to offer apologies for the premature publication. Additionally, he had previously apologized to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, where one of the affected individuals, American journalist Evan Gershkovich, was employed. The editor-in-chief stressed the importance of accuracy in reporting and acknowledged the responsibility to act in an ethical manner, admitting that in this instance, the publication had failed to meet that standard.