BuzzFeed Editors Reject Ben Smith’s Impulse To Delete Their Own CEN Story Text

This 22 April 2015 email chain shows BuzzFeed editors discussing how to handle BuzzFeed’s own previous CEN-based posts immediately before publication of the CEN article. Robert Colvile tells Lisa Tozzi, Tom Namako, Alan White and Shani Hilton that BuzzFeed was “basically calling out” the agency used by the Mail, Mirror and others for “awful inaccurate” stories, but therefore had to acknowledge where BuzzFeed had used CEN material itself. The significant point is that Lisa Tozzi says she does not think BuzzFeed should delete the original text, and Colvile replies that deletion had been “Ben’s original impulse” when the issue was first raised, but that he agrees it is better to add a note at the top. This matters because Ben Smith had apparently suggested the possibility of deleting BuzzFeed’s own CEN-based text, while other BuzzFeed editors recognised that would be less transparent and instead favoured editor’s notes or corrections. The document also repeats the awkward internal contrast: BuzzFeed was preparing to criticise rival publishers for using CEN material while managing the fact that it had also published CEN-linked items, including the Bieber bear attack story, which Colvile says was the only BuzzFeed example they had “conclusively debunked” at that stage.

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