BuzzFeed Debate Shows Russian Cat Story Was Legit While CEN Quotes Were Assumed Suspicious

This document is a 15 January 2015 BuzzFeed email exchange between Craig Silverman, Alan White and Tom Phillips with the subject “Heroic cat”, concerning a Russian story about a cat said to have helped save a baby. It is included in the Source Library as source/evidence material connected to the BuzzFeed/CEN case and the pre-publication investigation of CEN-linked Russian stories. It records Alan White and Craig Silverman trying to trace the original Russian source, with White saying the source “looks legitish” and Silverman later saying “the Pravda story seems legit”, while still treating CEN’s additional pictures and quotes as suspicious because they did not appear in the original article. It also records Silverman speculating that if CEN’s extra image came from a TV screengrab rather than its own reporting, this would “heighten the likelihood that the quotes are made up”, while at the same time accepting that CEN may have done interviews if it had obtained additional pictures. It is relevant because it shows BuzzFeed moving from a story that appeared to be real into suspicion about CEN’s added quotes and sourcing, illustrating the wider problem of trying to take apart foreign-language viral stories from online traces rather than by speaking directly to the people involved.

Source

Part of Central European News & Mike Leidig v BuzzFeed (US Second Circuit Libel Case) – BF Case Documents

Europe Media Published 1 May 2026 at 21:09 Source: 1 November 2016