BuzzFeed Offers Polish Couple Lawyers And Multilingual Publication Instead Of Payment

This 29–30 April 2015 email chain shows Alan White and Tomasz Oryński negotiating BuzzFeed’s planned Poland follow-up after publication of the CEN article. Oryński says one of the people at the centre of the Polish story appeared to expect payment for an interview and felt the couple deserved compensation for the “torment” caused after the earlier article was published. White replies that BuzzFeed does not pay for interviews, but says the article could be translated into Spanish, German and French and posted on BuzzFeed’s sites in those countries. Oryński then says he has told the couple there would be “no gratification” for the interview and that BuzzFeed probably would not take over their court fight, but suggests it might be possible to ask BuzzFeed’s legal department whether it knows a lawyer who could represent them in a British court. White replies: “We can certainly point them in the direction of some British lawyers.” The document is significant because it shows BuzzFeed using promises of exposure, translation, international publication and possible legal contacts to secure cooperation for a follow-up story, while offering no interview payment and no clear practical remedy for the people involved. It also shows the imbalance in the proposed exchange: BuzzFeed was prepared to pay Oryński for two days’ work, flights and hotel, but the couple whose lives were supposedly central to the human-impact follow-up were offered visibility and perhaps a lawyer referral. The document therefore captures the horse-trading behind the Polish follow-up and raises the question of whether BuzzFeed was genuinely helping the subjects of the story or simply using the possibility of help to keep the reporting process moving.

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