Alan White Says Heidi Blake Gave “Strategic Tips” On How To Handle CEN Before Publication

This 31 March 2015 email from Alan White to Luke Lewis, Robert Colvile, Heidi Blake, Tom Phillips and Craig Silverman gives a short pre-publication status update on the BuzzFeed CEN article. White says Mike Leidig had not replied to his email, that Heidi Blake had given him “some useful strategic tips on how to play out the rest of the week”, and that he planned to phone Leidig the next day before preparing a “no surprises” email if there was still no response. He also says Tom Phillips was reaching out to picture desks and other contacts, while noting that some may be “too senior to even have CEN on their radar”, and that the final draft had been shared so Robert Colvile could make sure legal had the correct version. The document is significant because it shows BuzzFeed treating the remaining right-to-reply period as a strategic exercise immediately before publication, with Blake advising on how to “play out” the week and the team preparing a no-surprises letter rather than a more open-ended exchange. It also repeats the useful public-profile point: even while BuzzFeed was preparing a major article branding CEN through the “fake news” frame, White recognised that some senior picture-desk contacts might not know CEN at all.

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