Ben Smith Suggests Deleting Text From BuzzFeed’s Own CEN Stories While Editing Final Draft

This 1 April 2015 email shows Ben Smith directly engaging with the final BuzzFeed CEN draft after Robert Colvile invited him to edit it. Smith says “This is great” and asks for Shani Hilton to be added, then gives several comments, including: “lets make sure we update our CEN stories in clear way -- maybe delete the text -- and talk to their authors”. The document is significant because it shows BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief involved in the story at the point when the team was confronting the awkward fact that BuzzFeed had itself published CEN-linked material. Rather than pausing to question whether that undermined the premise of attacking rivals such as MailOnline for running similar material, Smith’s practical response was to ask whether BuzzFeed’s own CEN stories could be updated, or possibly have their text deleted. He also suggests making the article more lurid — “should we amp up the lurid ness up high Obsessed with castration etc” — while noting that the charity-money section felt “underreported”. The email is therefore important because it captures senior editorial involvement at the top of BuzzFeed: the story was being encouraged and sharpened, BuzzFeed’s own prior use of CEN material was being managed as a presentation problem, and one underreported section was recognised while the article was still moving towards publication. It also sits against Colvile’s attached note that the preferred lead could not be used because they had not proved it was CEN copy, while the team was still going through a “new cache” of CEN newslists for “more colourful stuff”.

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