According to The Hill, CNN has announced an interesting new policy when it comes to bold, anonymously sourced accusations regarding the Trump Administration and Russia.
In an internal company email, Executive Editor Rich Barbieri said, “No one should publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and Jason [Farkas]…No exceptions.”
The move comes after CNN recently published a Russia story that was apparently so baseless that they issued a complete retraction. Thus, it would appear to that CNN is attempting to exercise more editorial restraint and avoid a similar incident in the future.
It remains to be seen whether this will translate to any real differences in practice, but it could lead to marginally less hyperbolic reporting on this subject. That’s all to the good.
Interestingly, CNN hasn’t actually been the worst offender on this topic in the first place. That honor(?) belongs decidedly to The Washington Post. They’ve already had to issue multiple corrections. But thus far, editorial restraint at that outlet has been slow to emerge.
