Bloomberg L.P. has put a reporter suspected of leaking news about a controversial China story on unpaid leave, The Post has learned.
Michael Forsthye was escorted from Bloomberg’s Hong Kong office on Nov. 14, sources said, after he was fingered as the person who leaked embarrassing claims about how the news and data giant spiked a story that could have angered leaders in China.
An unidentified journalist, in a story in the New York Times Nov. 9, claimed Matt Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News, spiked the story because he feared angering the Chinese government could get the company’s profitable data terminals kicked out of the country.
Winkler has strenuously denied the charge.
Forsthye has been placed on unpaid leave of absence, sources said.
A company spokeswoman declined to comment on his status.
Morale in Bloomberg’s newsroom, already under pressure as news spread Friday of the action against Forsthye, is expected to take another leg down next week as, insiders said, layoffs are looming.
The cuts to reporters and editors, which may run as high as 50 to 100, may start as early as Monday, the sources added.
They would be the largest in Bloomberg history.
The cuts will come from projects & investigations, sports and the culture section, known as “muse,” according to several insiders.
The Washington bureau is expected to absorb some of the deepest cuts.
The story that gave the far-flung media company another black eye ran on Page 1 of the Times.
Based on interviews with several unidentified Bloomberg journalists, the story claimed a year-long investigation into financial ties between Chinese political leaders and one of the country’s wealthiest individuals was being spiked.
Winkler, according to sources quoted in the Times story, said, “If we run the story we will be kicked out of China.”
Winkler insisted in the Times story that their version of the discussion was not true and the stories were held for journalistic reasons. They are still active — although they have yet to run.
In his weekly notes distributed Friday, Winkler again defended himself.
“As everyone knows we have been the focus of media attention because of our reporting on China.
We were accused of withholding production of recent reporting because of external or internal pressure. It isn’t true.”
By Friday, word was spreading inside the media empire that Forsythe, believed to be one of the main reporters on the China story, had been escorted from the Hong Kong office because he was suspected of being a source of the embarrassing leak to the Times.
A Bloomberg spokeswoman declined comment on Forsythe, whose phone was still active at Bloomberg, He had not returned an email by presstime.
He is expected to be dismissed, sources said.