A broken clock is right twice a day, and every once in a while a reputable news organization messes up. On Monday it was announced that three of CNN’s high-profile journalists resigned after a Trump-and-Russia-related article fell apart.
The story, which was published late last week and was retracted after an investigation revealed that it was based on a single anonymous source, reported that Congress was investigating a “Russian investment fund with ties to Trump officials,” CNN Money reports.
The news station added, “These types of stories are typically reviewed by several departments within CNN—including fact-checkers, journalism standards experts and lawyers—before publication.”
No one except CNN knows exactly what happened, but the story was scrubbed from the website, and the reporter, Pulitzer Prize nominee Thomas Frank; Assistant Managing Editor Eric Lichtblau (a Pulitzer Prize winner); and Lex Haris, the executive editor in charge of investigations, have all resigned.
“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,” CNN said in a statement viewed by Politico.
“On Friday, CNN retracted a story published by my team. As Executive Editor of that team, I have resigned,” Haris said in a statement published by CNN. “I’ve been with CNN since 2001, and am sure about one thing: This is a news organization that prizes accuracy and fairness above all else. I am leaving, but will carry those principles wherever I go.”
Well, you know who couldn’t wait to hop on Twitter to take his ceremonial victory lap.
The problem with CNN’s story turning out to be problematic is that it lends credibility to the outrageousness that mainstream media is fake news. Believe me, the Trump supporters are going crazy with this, and they should, because the story apparently was incorrect. I just hate that the divisive Trump administration now has something it can point to as proof of its claims.
Read more at CNN Money.