Ben Smith Chases Progress On CEN Story Before Approving No Surprises Letter Stage

This internal BuzzFeed email from 14 April 2015 shows Ben Smith, BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief, being updated on the imminent approach to Mike Leidig before publication of the CEN article. The thread follows an earlier disclosure document, BuzzFeed_009627, in which Smith asked whether Tom Phillips and Alan White were close on the CEN story. In this fuller later version, BuzzFeed_007424, Tom Phillips tells Smith and Heidi Blake that a “No Surprises” letter is planned to go out the following day and that, after that, it is “just giving him time to respond.” Smith replies simply: “Great.” The document is useful because it places Smith directly in the publication chain shortly before CEN was approached for comment. It does not contain detailed editorial discussion, but it confirms that Smith was being updated on the timing of the approach letter and approved the next step. Read together with the earlier BuzzFeed_009627 progress-chasing email, it helps show that Smith was not a distant figure merely signing off the finished article, but was tracking the story as it moved towards publication.

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