Althouse: "CNN is imposing strict new publishing restrictions for online articles involving Russia after the network deleted a story and then issued a retraction late Friday..."

June 26, 2017

"CNN is imposing strict new publishing restrictions for online articles involving Russia after the network deleted a story and then issued a retraction late Friday..."

Buzzfeed reports, citing "an internal email," from Rich Barbieri (CNNMoney's executive editor), which read:saying "No one should publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and Jason." (Jason Farkas is a CNN vice president).

Buzzfeed also quotes an anonymous source saying the deleted story was a "massive, massive fuck up and people will be disciplined."

77 comments:

Quaestor said...: massive, massive...

Somehow I doubt their sincerity.; 6/26/17, 3:47 PM
sparrow said...: I'll believe it when I see it; another anonymously sourced article telling me what the authors imagnie I want to hear.; 6/26/17, 3:47 PM
Original Mike said...: But where will Inga get her fix?; 6/26/17, 3:49 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: The now-deleted story was published Thursday and cited a single, unnamed source who claimed that the Senate Intelligence Committee was looking into 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."

Repeat after me:

I will not write news articles with only a single, unnamed source.
I will not write news articles with only a single, unnamed source.
I will not write news articles with only a single, unnamed source.
I will not write news articles with only a single, unnamed source.

Does it ever occur to reporters and/or their editors that the single unnamed source is not being persecuted, but is merely trying to sabotage his opponent or shape the news in the way that aligns with the views of the source?; 6/26/17, 3:51 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: I take it that the story is actionably false. Trump cannot sue CNN but Scaramucci certainly can.; 6/26/17, 3:52 PM
Drago said...: "Why?" one wonders, if it's only "one in 100,000 stories", according to some, that CNN gets wrong?; 6/26/17, 3:54 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: Does it ever occur to reporters and/or their editors that the single unnamed source is not being persecuted, but is merely trying to sabotage his opponent or shape the news in the way that aligns with the views of the source?

6/26/17, 3:51 PM

Oh, I'm sure they know that. They're trying to do the same thing.; 6/26/17, 3:54 PM
tcrosse said...: WHen is a fuck up not massive ? As often as an inadequacy is not woeful, I bet.; 6/26/17, 3:54 PM
rehajm said...: CNN is a massive, massive fuck up of people who are undisciplined.; 6/26/17, 3:54 PM
Drago said...: Bay Area Guy: "I will not write news articles with only a single, unnamed source"

One anonymous source, 5 anonymous sources, 100 anonymous sources. Makes no difference.

The media is simply writing whatever they must to support the left-wing lie of collusion.; 6/26/17, 3:55 PM
Mary Beth said...: Disciplined, how?; 6/26/17, 3:55 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: It's shaping up to be another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the Left.; 6/26/17, 3:55 PM
Hari said...: Does the media guarantee to protect sources that lie, and if so, why?

A promise of anonymity should be similar to a promise of immunity, in that both should be based on telling the truth.

If CNN wanted to do the right thing, it would expose the lying leaker.; 6/26/17, 3:57 PM
n.n said...: Only CNN's regret is anonymously sourced. The fear of lost credibility is genuine and documented.; 6/26/17, 3:57 PM
tcrosse said...: Disciplined, how?

A good smack on the ass with a rolled-up Washington Post. That'll teach 'em.; 6/26/17, 3:58 PM
David Baker said...: To understand CNN, I told my nephew, read Goebbels's Guide To The Galaxy.; 6/26/17, 3:59 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Mary Beth,

Disciplined, how?

Jeff Zucker's dominatrix is going to crush bugs on his chest with six inch heels.

It'll cost him extra.; 6/26/17, 4:04 PM
The Godfather said...: Drago is right. Ignore every story that is based on anonymous "sources". You have no way of knowing whether the story is true, and there are plenty of examples of such stories being wrong (even Comey the leaker says so). If you ignore the stories from anonymous sources, then there is no "Russia" story, no "obstruction" story, no "hookers" story, etc. But there are stories about real events, real policy proposals, real bills introduced, real court decisions, even real Trumptweets. Isn't that enough material for discussion?; 6/26/17, 4:04 PM
Unknown said...: BREAKING NEWS from Trumpski News Network:

Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says, "Senate bill would increase the number of people who are uninsured by 22 million in 2026 relative to the number under current law"

CBO continues, "By 2026 an estimated 49 million people would be uninsured compared with 28 million who would lack insurance that year under current law"

That is nearly the number who voted for Trump.; 6/26/17, 4:04 PM
Drago said...: Looks like Unknown is trapped, TRAPPED!, within Robert Cooks static analysis universe.; 6/26/17, 4:07 PM
Yancey Ward said...: "Next time make up two sources instead of one, Frank!"; 6/26/17, 4:08 PM
Static Ping said...: On the plus side, CNN has identified a line it should not cross. There is still a touch of journalistic integrity in there. It's probably roughly equivalent of an afterimage of the original personality of a vampire, but it is something.

Getting called out by BuzzFeed for journalistic malpractice is like walking into a room and discovering your intervention is staffed by Charlie Sheen, Johnny Depp, and Lindsay Lohan. It's the moment you realize that driving the school bus off the pier while having sex with an underage transsexual llama escort was, in all likelihood, not imagined, which may explain why you have been trying to call your agent all day with a seashell.; 6/26/17, 4:09 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/26/17, 4:12 PM
Roy Lofquist said...: More fake news. This is a big time scam. Democratic rank and file office holders and political operatives have been pleading with leadership to drop the Russia thing. CNN is caught up in an MH370 type black hole. This fake story and retraction is the exit strategy for both CNN and the Democrats.; 6/26/17, 4:12 PM
Drago said...: Buzzfeed also quotes an anonymous source saying the deleted story was a "massive, massive fuck up and people will be disciplined."

Yes it was a screw up.

Not the fake story, naturally. Nope.

The screw up was having it exposed so quickly instead of weeks later after all the damage had been done.

We call that the "Dan Rather Space-Time Conundrum".; 6/26/17, 4:12 PM
rehajm said...: Looks like Unknown is trapped, TRAPPED!, within Robert Cooks static analysis universe.

CBO is obligated to predict changes in behavior as a result of changes to ACA but prohibited from assuming ANY change in behavior as a result of lowering marginal tax rates.

Static scoring advocates are science deniers.; 6/26/17, 4:12 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: How many of those millions of additional uninsured people that Unknown cites chose to be? It is lazy to assume that "uninsured" can only mean someone who really wants insurance but can't get it.; 6/26/17, 4:15 PM
Ralph L said...: How many posts will there be today?
Someone needs to send Althouse back to work.; 6/26/17, 4:16 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I would guess that Thomas Frank didn't have even one source for the story. He heard a rumor about this someone who heard it from someone else, and Frank decided he would write a story with a made up source. I strongly suspect that is what almost everyone reporting on the Russian Collusion story is doing- they talk among themselves telling each other the things their friends and colleagues claim to have heard, and they then write stories about these rumors with these quote anonymous sources, they just don't tell you that they don't even know themselves who the original source for the rumor was.

One could probably prove this by creating a specific detailed rumor out of whole cloth and planting it somewhere reporters from WaPo or the NYTimes gather to talk to each other. If it were anti-Trump in the right way feeding this Russian Collusion BS, it would probably appear within a week quoting "former and present members of the intelligence community". Indeed, this has already been done both by pranksters and those who deliberately driving this conspiracy theory.; 6/26/17, 4:16 PM
Ralph L said...: How often have 8 or 10 year CBO predictions been accurate within, say, an order of magnitude?; 6/26/17, 4:18 PM
Drago said...: rehajm: "Static scoring advocates are science deniers."

Science AND Math deniers.

Burge(Iowahawk) wrote: "At this point it's probably best to fence off Illinois and call it Math National Park as a warning to the rest of us"; 6/26/17, 4:20 PM
Drago said...: Yancey Ward: "I strongly suspect that is what almost everyone reporting on the Russian Collusion story is doing- they talk among themselves telling each other the things their friends and colleagues claim to have heard, and they then write stories about these rumors with these quote anonymous sources, they just don't tell you that they don't even know themselves who the original source for the rumor was."

I disagree. I think the entire dem apparatus with their media and "lifelong republican" allies in the establishment have known all along it was all a colossal lie but they don't care because "Trump".; 6/26/17, 4:22 PM
n.n said...: Ralph L:

The CBO's apparent incompetence likely lies not in their analysis, but in the assumptions/assertions that direct construction of their models.; 6/26/17, 4:23 PM
Achilles said...: CNN is merely following orders. Nothing more nothing less.

The only people who trust CNNWAPONYTNBCANCCBS are tools who can't think for themselves. You only need to see the stories from one to see them all as well.; 6/26/17, 4:24 PM
Francisco D said...: It sounds like some members of "The Resistance" are getting scared.

I'm not getting tired of winning. There is more to come when Lynch and Comey face justice. I won't bet on Hillary ever facing justice. The Clintons are experienced sociopaths with too many connections.

Ironically, Comey has covered for them for a while, but they won't lift a finger to help him. CNN might.; 6/26/17, 4:24 PM
n.n said...: re: assumptions/assertions

That and chaos (e.g. evolution) that precludes estimation and analysis with any meaningful level of accuracy outside of a limited frame of reference (i.e. scientific logical domain).; 6/26/17, 4:26 PM
tcrosse said...: One could probably prove this by creating a specific detailed rumor out of whole cloth and planting it somewhere reporters from WaPo or the NYTimes gather to talk to each other.

There was the rumor that Hillary Clinton was warm and wonderful, and the most qualified candidate ever. They bought that.; 6/26/17, 4:26 PM
Bob Ellison said...: CNN goes with a crap story, and we wonder how that happened. A few possibilities:

1) Yancey Ward's conjecture above (everyone in the bubble gossips about rumors, and a reporter decides to run with it without any confirmation).

2) Someone with a little bit of a reputation plants the story, saying no attribution, and the reporter runs with it.

3) Someone familiar with the press shops the story all over until some dumb reporter runs with it.

I like YW's conjecture, but any of the above could work, and has in the past.; 6/26/17, 4:33 PM
Yancey Ward said...: tcrosse,

I would have thought the torpor in cold weather, the swallowing of prey whole, and molted skins would have alerted even the dimmest reporter to the truth.; 6/26/17, 4:34 PM
Hagar said...: It isn't "massive" unless it has mass.
A mountain has mass; nothing at CNN has mass.; 6/26/17, 4:50 PM
Man in PA said...: Just two weeks ago, CNN was forced to retract a story that claimed former FBI Director James Comey would refute Trump’s claim that Comey had informed him three separate times that he was not the subject of an FBI investigation. In fact, Comey’s testimony confirmed Trump’s account.

CNN only errs in the anti-Trump direction.
And CNN does this often.; 6/26/17, 4:50 PM
tola'at sfarim said...: I wont believe there was an actual source until the reporter unmasks him/her, and lets us know what other stories were based on this source; 6/26/17, 4:53 PM
Bob Boyd said...: The whole Russia Collusion narrative is collapsing, it's starting to look like the story was product of the Clinton campaign and Obama was complicit. Dem leadership is reportedly telling their people to stop talking about Russia. The special elections clearly demonstrated that voters don't care about the story.
Russia stories going forward from here are likely to be damaging to Democrats, not Trump.
So now CNN decides to impose restrictions on Russia Collusion stories. What a shock.; 6/26/17, 5:08 PM
Tarrou said...: They're not sorry they did it. They're sorry they got caught. Simple as that.

Journalists are the lowest profession. If I found myself in an elevator with Kim Jong Un, Al-Baghdadi and a reporter, and only two rounds left, I'd shoot the reporter twice.; 6/26/17, 5:12 PM
tcrosse said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/26/17, 5:14 PM
tcrosse said...: -Yancy Ward
I would have thought the torpor in cold weather, the swallowing of prey whole, and molted skins would have alerted even the dimmest reporter to the truth.

Not even now, when the shriveled corpse is pickled in alcohol.; 6/26/17, 5:15 PM
Qwinn said...: Anyone noticing that every lefty (and Chuck) posting on the Russia threads is posting about everything EXCEPT Russia?

Looks like everyone's gotten their orders from Soros HQ on time today.; 6/26/17, 5:16 PM
traditionalguy said...: A Russian Concussion is a serious brain injury. CNN's diagnosis was clear when they were all frantic and confused all of the time. The Protocol is they stay off the field until they can shoot straight.

Trump is having heart on CNN by taking away their Video Press Briefings and refusing to listen to their hostile audio accusation-questions.

With any luck, Megyn Kelly will be traded to CNN by NBC to lower the public's expectations.; 6/26/17, 5:18 PM
Drago said...: Man in PA: "Just two weeks ago, CNN was forced to retract a story that claimed former FBI Director James Comey would refute Trump’s claim that Comey had informed him three separate times that he was not the subject of an FBI investigation. In fact, Comey’s testimony confirmed Trump’s account."

But those are precisely the types of "reports" that Inga claims we should read because they are informative and interesting.

I mean, sure, they are chock full of lies but so what. Right?; 6/26/17, 5:22 PM
Bob Boyd said...: The "Russia Dossier" was fiction. Ironically, Trump is now enjoying watching CNN prostitutes pissing in their own bed.; 6/26/17, 5:24 PM
RMc said...: It was a massive f*ck-up...it didn't get Trump impeached, now did it...?!; 6/26/17, 5:25 PM
buwaya said...: I think the real problem here was a breakdown in discipline by CNN personnel.
They did not fire their last shot at the word of command, in a coordinated volley, as usual, but on their own.

This is a breaking of the ranks that can't be tolerated by the high command.; 6/26/17, 5:32 PM
Bob Ellison said...: If you're in the bias bubble, business sense dictates that you keep playing to the consumers in your bubble. The bubble gets smaller and smaller, but you don't see it happening until it's too late.; 6/26/17, 5:34 PM
Drago said...: And to think, we have not yet even begun to plumb the depths of illicit obama admin spying on tens of millions of Americans, obama's FBI political appointees (McCabe) literally paying taxpayer money to finance a BS dossier which is then used as a pretext to violate FISA rules to literally spy on Trump, his family and all his campaign members and associates and then loosening the rules for the spread of that information across multiple agencies and unmasking the names against the rules.

We. Haven't. Even. Begun. That. Part. Yet.

"lifelong republican" Chuck will be hardest hit.; 6/26/17, 5:37 PM
Mark Jones said...: "Gentle, we have to protect our phony-baloney jobs! Hrmph, hrmph, hrmph!"; 6/26/17, 5:45 PM
Drago said...: And here we go with the bloodletting at CNN:

"http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/26/media/cnn-announcement-retracted-article/index.html

snip: "Thomas Frank, who wrote the story in question; Eric Lichtblau, an editor in the unit; and Lex Haris, who oversaw the unit, have all left CNN."; 6/26/17, 5:52 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: Heh. In my business, this kind of thing would get you fired. Without a second thought.

And they wonder why we don't trust journalists.; 6/26/17, 5:53 PM
Crimso said...: Brilliant! They have fallen ass-backwards into a revolutionary concept! Maybe others will follow...; 6/26/17, 5:57 PM
johns said...: "An internal investigation by CNN management found that some standard editorial processes were not followed when the article was published, people briefed on the results of the investigation said."
http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/26/media/cnn-announcement-retracted-article/index.html

I'm dumbfounded to read that CNN has "editorial processes" that can or cannot be followed. I'm completely serious. My take on CNN, from the treadmill at my gym, is that they throw any kind of crap out there that they can find or make up.; 6/26/17, 6:11 PM
Swede said...: You've exposed us for the frauds we are, you dumbshits!

That'll cost you!; 6/26/17, 6:12 PM
Michael K said...: Three CNN staffers have been "let go." I think they needed more time with their families.

They called them "journalists" but we know better.

Thomas Frank, who wrote the story in question; Eric Lichtblau, an editor in the unit; and Lex Haris, who oversaw the unit, have all left CNN.
"In the aftermath of the retraction of a story published on CNN.com, CNN has accepted the resignations of the employees involved in the story's publication," a spokesman said Monday evening.; 6/26/17, 6:19 PM
Drago said...: johns: "My take on CNN, from the treadmill at my gym, is that they throw any kind of crap out there that they can find or make up"

They do, but the "story" must survive for about a week or two to allow the damage to settle in before a quiet retraction is offered which is not discussed anywhere.

This one didn't and it harmed the lefts collusion lies, so heads must roll to send the appropriate message to the democrat operatives in the media.; 6/26/17, 6:20 PM
Fen said...: CNN: "some standard editorial processes were not followed"

Weasel words No details. I suspect they are refusing to give us the whole story because it will reveal systemic corruption and dishonesty at CNN.; 6/26/17, 6:28 PM
Bob Boyd said...: "Three CNN staffers have been "let go.""

The worst part for these guys will be reading what Trump tweets about them getting fired.; 6/26/17, 6:29 PM
buwaya said...: Thats "What's the Matter with Kansas?" Thomas Frank.

Interesting.; 6/26/17, 6:33 PM
Crimso said...: buwaya, apparently it's not. That was my first thought. But unlike CNN, I actually check the facts (not a slam on you, but definitely on CNN; it's supposedly their fucking job to get it right).; 6/26/17, 6:44 PM
buwaya said...: Ah, I was fooled.
Wrong Thomas Frank.
The CNN fellow is ex-USA Today.
the other was ex-WSJ.; 6/26/17, 6:52 PM
David said...: They are firing the drones and letting the Big Bees that hire and herd the drones stick around. The buck stops at those with just the right mix of apparent responsibility but lack of overall authority.; 6/26/17, 6:57 PM
SukieTawdry said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/26/17, 7:18 PM
rcocean said...: I doubt it was a "mistake".

I bet CNN found out the 3 had deliberately made it up out of whole cloth or one the filmiest of evidence. Probably one Democratic Staffer told them Comey was going to call Trump a liar - and they ran with it.

It seems like every WaPo NYT article about the White House or the "Russia Investigation" is based on anon sources, and its been that way for 5 months. How many of these stories are phonies? We never know, because 1/2 the time they're printed and forgotten by the next day.; 6/26/17, 7:32 PM
Quaestor said...: Disciplined how?

Inga will pay a visit dressed in fishnet hose and a leather corset.; 6/26/17, 7:55 PM
Bob Loblaw said...: The worst part for these guys will be reading what Trump tweets about them getting fired.

Hahahahaha. That's probably true.; 6/26/17, 8:53 PM
Birkel said...: I was hoping to read lots of Leftist and LLR (birm) defenses of 1/100,000 Six Sigma CNN.

I am disheartened, like Neil Gorsuch when somebody called a judge who was overruled 9-0 by the Supreme Court and Neil Gorsuch himself was called so.; 6/26/17, 9:23 PM
Rick said...: buwaya said...
Thats "What's the Matter with Kansas?" Thomas Frank.

...Wrong Thomas Frank.

The editor's book was "The Nazis Next Door".; 6/26/17, 9:28 PM
Zach said...: Three people getting fired suggests that the problems with the sourcing are much worse than being single sourced or anonymous.

Like it or not, "a guy in a position to know told us something interesting" is a legitimate article. If three people got fired, you wonder if there was a source at all.; 6/26/17, 10:32 PM
Achilles said...: Drago said...
And here we go with the bloodletting at CNN:

"http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/26/media/cnn-announcement-retracted-article/index.html

snip: "Thomas Frank, who wrote the story in question; Eric Lichtblau, an editor in the unit; and Lex Haris, who oversaw the unit, have all left CNN."

This is to save face and protect themselves from the obligatory and surely successful lawsuit. These three will be picked up soon by someone else. They saw the lawsuit coming at them post haste and cut ties to protect themselves from the lawsuit.

The three pieces of shit will quickly have new jobs. They were merely following orders and if they were blackballed that would chill the anti-trump derangement the masters are clearly fomenting.; 6/27/17, 12:38 AM
JAORE said...: The Democrats have been giving signals the "Russians are coming" is way beyond the sell by date. CNN has, apparently,learned the Russians under every bed stories are no longer high ratings gold. CNN, knowing these two pieces of information determined the whole cloth invention story did much more harm than good for CNN Project Veritas and cut their losses.; 6/27/17, 8:28 AM