Richard James Flags CEN Pictures As BuzzFeed Story Option Before Later CEN Investigation

This 7 March 2014 email shows BuzzFeed UK news editor Richard James sending the London edit team a short news list and saying there was “not much around this morning” but that he might “jump on the top two if we can get the pictures”. One of the two stories he identifies is a MailOnline item about a polluted Chinese river bursting into flames, which he labels “CEN pics”. The document is significant because it records James actively identifying CEN-linked material as a potential BuzzFeed story option months before BuzzFeed began preparing its article attacking CEN as a supplier of dubious viral news. It should be read alongside other Richard James and BuzzFeed/CEN documents showing CEN content being received, discussed or used inside BuzzFeed, because it helps document the prior-use contradiction: James knew from BuzzFeed’s own editorial workflow that CEN material had been treated as usable content, yet later BuzzFeed/CEN discussions do not appear to show him foregrounding that knowledge when the agency’s credibility and client usage were being scrutinised.

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