A Retraction And Resignations At CNN

Three CNN journalists resign after the retraction of a Russia-related story. What does it mean for the reputation of the press?

Erik Wemple, media columnist at the Washington Post. (@ErikWemple)

CNN: Three journalists leaving CNN after retracted article — "Three CNN journalists, including the executive editor in charge of a new investigative unit, have resigned after the publication of a Russia-related article that was retracted. 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."

Washington Post: Three CNN employees resign over retracted story on Russia ties — "The event is a cataclysm accentuated by the peculiar bind in which the 24-7 network has found itself. CNN tops President Trump’s list of objectionable news outlets, one that he famously claimed in a January transition press conference was 'fake news,' even though the reporting he was referring to — about high-level intelligence briefings — was 100 percent correct. Trump fans everywhere have taken up the fight, hammering the network every time it equivocates or otherwise over-reports the Russia-Trump line of inquiry. In the regular White House briefings, Press Secretary Sean Spicer carries on a sneering and long-running feud with CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, perhaps the press corp’s most outspoken detractor of the White House’s no-camera and no-audio briefings."