NYT: CNN Muddles Up Russia-Trump Coverage

CNN is having a tough time covering the Russia-Trump matter, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The network pulled its investigative team off of the topic following the retraction of an article on Anthony Scaramucci, and network executives transferred all reporting duties on the topic to its Washington, D.C., team, soon after the debacle.

Three investigative team members resigned after the false Scaramucci report – which tied the then-Trump adviser to a Russian investment bank under Senate sanctions – and CNN had to correct an earlier June story that said former FBI Director James would contradict President Donald Trump in testimony before Congress.

The day after the Scaramucci retraction, CNN editor Rich Barbieri, charged with heading the finance and business site, said there was to be no publishing of "any content involving Russia" without editorial approval.

Eric Lichtblau, one of the investigative team members who was forced to resign, was a Pulitzer Prize winner at the Times before he joined CNN. His dismissal, along with the dismissal of Lex Harris, the head of the investigative unit, and reporter Thomas Frank, was a shock to the newsroom and to some media commentators.

The fact CNN did not offer a full correction and explanation, "muddied the waters to correct something, and we don't know what it's correcting," said Edward Wasserman, the dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

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