CNN Using New Rules for Russia Reporting After Retracting Story

BuzzFeed obtained internal email which shows news network instituting new guidelines over since-deleted story.

June 26, 2017 9:38 am
CNN
CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia (Getty)

CNN is implementing new rules on its Russia reporting in the wake of a story that was ultimately retracted.

The news network is scrambling to institute new publishing guidelines for online articles about Russia after it was forced to delete a story and then issue a retraction late Friday, BuzzFeed News reported.

That story, published Thursday, claimed Senate investigators were probing a “$10-billion Russian investment fund whose chief executive met with a member of President Donald Trump’s transition team four days before Trump’s inauguration.”

But a network insider told BuzzFeed News that the story was a “massive, massive f— up and people will be disciplined.” There will be an internal investigation into the piece.

BuzzFeed obtained an internal CNN email sent Saturday morning from CNNMoney executive editor Rich Barbieri telling the staff that all content referencing Russia should be run by him or CNN vice president Jason Farkas before being published.

A more permanent workflow would be installed Monday, he announced.

This comes weeks after CNN was forced to correct a report on former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. An anonymous source told reporters for the network that Comey would dispute President Trump’s assertion that he was told he was not personally under investigation in the probe over Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Instead, Comey publicly contradicted and rebuked the reports’ sources.

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David A. Vise wrote a column for RealClearLife admonishing the media’s over-reliance on anonymous sourcing.

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