CNN has changed rules on how the company handles stories about Russia after the network had to retract and delete a story on Friday.
BuzzFeed reported that CNNMoney executive editor Rich Barbieri sent out an email on Saturday that told employees they should not “publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and [CNN Vice President] Jason [Farkas].”
CNN deleted a story that claimed the Senate Intelligence Committee wanted to investigate a “$10-billion Russian investment fund whose chief executive met with a member of President Donald Trump’s transition team four days before Trump’s inauguration.” From The New York Post:
According to BuzzFeed, the report claimed the committee had been looking into the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) as part of its probe of President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.It said that the RDIF had been overseen by Vnesheconombank, a Russian bank, which was the target of US sanctions — along with the fund.The report cited a meeting in January between RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev and Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital and a noted Trump supporter.Countless people on social media declared the article “fake news” and called out CNN — saying there were factual inaccuracies. The RDIF and Scaramucci, himself, blasted the network for running the piece.“I did nothing wrong,” he tweeted Thursday. “They like hitting friends of @potus who are loyal advocates on his behalf.”
The story disappeared on Friday with only an editor’s note:
On June 22, 2017, CNN.com published a story connecting Anthony Scaramucci with investigations into the Russian Direct Investment Fund.That story did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. CNN apologizes to Mr. Scaramucci.
A person at CNN described the incident as a “massive, massive f*ck up” and that “people will be disciplined.” An internal investigation at the network includes President Jeff Zucker and the head of human resources.
The blowback has forced CNN to change how it covers Russia content:
The email went out at 11:21 a.m. on Saturday from Rich Barbieri, the CNNMoney executive editor, saying “No one should publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and Jason [Farkas],” a CNN vice president.”This applied to social, video, editorial, and MoneyStream. No exceptions,” the email added. “I will lay out a workflow Monday.”The new restrictions also apply to other areas of the network — not just CNNMoney, which wasn’t involved with the article that was deleted and retracted.
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