BuzzFeed Notes On Samantha King Interview Record Early CEN As “Basic Agency Work”

This BuzzFeed disclosure document is a one-page memo headed “Notes and Quotes”, recording notes from a conversation with Samantha King about her brief time working with CEN in 1995. The memo says King was not a co-founder and worked for CEN for about eight months. Her comments describe the early agency as a very small operation covering Austria and Central Europe for UK interest, with stories coming from people in central European countries and selected because they would be of interest back in Britain. She described the work as “basic agency work” and said one advantage was that there was not really anyone else covering that material. The document is significant because it provides an outside recollection of CEN’s original model as conventional agency journalism, built around spotting stories in Austria and neighbouring countries that might interest UK newspapers. King’s examples also support the point that apparently odd stories were often simply normal or serious local issues that looked unusual to outsiders, such as an Austrian debate about men doing their share of housework. The memo also shows the limits of what she was prepared to say. After being told about “the suspect work from CEN we now see”, she said she had no idea what CEN was doing now, was not prepared to comment, and would not comment when asked whether Leidig would be “okay with putting out false stuff”. She added that she was still occasionally in touch with Mike socially and said: “To be honest I don’t like the way this [interview] is going.” This makes the document useful because it preserves both the positive/contextual material she gave about early CEN and her refusal to be drawn into endorsing BuzzFeed’s later negative framing. It expands on the Samantha King conversation material by showing that, when pushed towards present-day allegations, she declined to speculate or provide the confirmation BuzzFeed appeared to be seeking.

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