Janine Gibson Jokes Over Confidential CEN Alert Leaked From Associated Newspapers

This 31 July 2015 email chain shows a confidential CEN “Fake News Alert” being forwarded to BuzzFeed by Karl Smith, from an Associated Newspapers email account, under the subject line “CEN lolz”. The CEN alert was intended as a client-facing warning about viral stories that appeared to be recycled, old or fake, and included a confidentiality notice stating that the material was for the named addressee only and should not be copied, used or disclosed to anyone else. Alan White forwards the leaked material internally with the comment “Brilliant”, after which Janine Gibson replies: “I mean hats off.” The document is significant because it shows BuzzFeed receiving confidential CEN client material from Associated Newspapers, a CEN client and commercial rival in the viral-news market, and treating it dismissively or jokingly rather than as confidential material obtained from a rival publisher’s editorial environment. According to Mike Leidig, CEN founder, Gibson later did not respond when asked to correct alleged inaccuracies in the BuzzFeed CEN article or take it down, making this exchange relevant to her role not only as a senior editorial figure with Guardian credentials, but as someone who was aware of and apparently comfortable with BuzzFeed’s use of leaked CEN material. The evidential value lies in the chain itself: confidential CEN material was not merely leaked to BuzzFeed, but circulated internally, celebrated, and folded into the same post-publication atmosphere in which BuzzFeed was resisting CEN’s objections while continuing to collect material against it.

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