BuzzFeed Says Existing Anonymous Source “Phrases It Very Well” As Alan White Limits CEN Front-Up To Phone

This 8 April 2015 email chain shows Tom Phillips, Alan White, Luke Lewis and Heidi Blake discussing the CEN article shortly before the planned front-up approach to Mike Leidig. The document is significant because Phillips says he will keep “reaching out to people in the media” to see if they will say anything else, but adds that BuzzFeed’s “current anon source” already “phrases it very well” and that further media contact is mainly being sought for “added value”. The same email says Phillips will take another pass at “punching it up for style”, suggesting that the article’s presentation and supporting colour were still being worked on close to publication. The chain is also relevant because Alan White says that, once the front-up letter has been sent, if Leidig wants to speak to him, he is “only happy to do so over the phone”, while Luke Lewis says an in-person conversation would be preferable if Leidig wanted to talk, even if it pushed publication back by a day. It should be read alongside the later Vienna/personal-safety email and other front-up documents, because it helps document BuzzFeed’s reliance on anonymous media commentary, the limited nature of the planned direct engagement with Leidig, and the tension between the seriousness of the allegations and the reluctance to conduct a face-to-face source confrontation before 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