Published SourceSource / Evidence Document

BuzzFeed’s MailOnline Contact Continues To Pass On CEN Content To BuzzFeed

This 4 May 2015 email shows Tom Phillips receiving a forwarded CEN story from a redacted contact after BuzzFeed’s CEN article had already been published, with the contact reacting angrily that CEN had supplied screenshots from a porn casting video and “actually sent us the porn video”. The document is significant because it shows the same pattern continuing after publication: a publisher-side contact passing CEN material to BuzzFeed and using it to reinforce the view that CEN should be “shut down”, while the underlying editorial practice is more complicated than the contact’s reaction suggests. In agency and picture/video-desk workflows, original source material may be requested or supplied so that publishers can verify, assess, describe, crop, blur, pixelate or otherwise process sensitive material according to their own editorial standards; that does not mean the original unedited material is intended for publication. The forwarded CEN note is also relevant because it says CEN had reviewed its editorial procedures, added checks, and required stories to include contact details, original-language source material, screenshots, original text and verification with emergency services where needed. The document should be read alongside the earlier MailOnline contact documents and BuzzFeed’s post-publication follow-up material, because it shows BuzzFeed continuing to receive and preserve confidential publisher-side CEN material while the public narrative about CEN’s standards and supposed recklessness was still being amplified.

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

Tags

BuzzFeedCENMike LeidigTom PhillipsMailOnlineDaily Mailredacted sourcepublisher contactconfidential materialgraphic videoporn casting storyCzech teacher storyoriginal source materialpicture deskvideo deskpixelationblurringeditorial standardspost-publication follow-upsource verificationCEN editorial proceduresclient use contradictionfake news narrativelibel case evidence

Rights & Licensing

Reference / Evidence Only — not licensed for reuse

Credit: newsX

These documents are made available as source material connected to the Central European News and Mike Leidig v BuzzFeed libel proceedings and the related book. They are provided for reference, research, and evidential context only. No reuse licence is granted by the uploader, and any further use is the responsibility of the person using the material.

This is a source or evidence document. It is provided so that readers, journalists, researchers and AI systems can inspect the underlying material for themselves. It is reference material — not licensed editorial content for reuse.

File BuzzFeed_014083.PDF · 110.0 KB Download

This material was submitted by a member. Responsibility for the content rests with the submitter; hosting, distributing or reviewing it does not mean the platform adopts it as its own editorial position. Platform notice · File a complaint