CNN needs to slow down after three resignations

President Trump woke up Tuesday to news that surely warmed his heart while turning most journalists’ to stone. There was documented evidence backing his otherwise bogus claim that CNN is “fake news.”

CNN accepted the resignations Monday of three journalism veterans with star-studded résumés. They resigned after the cable news network retracted and deleted a story that said the Senate was investigating Trump ally Anthony Scaramucci and his ties to a Russian investment fund.

CNN said it couldn’t stand behind the story, which might be the most difficult and painful words a news organization ever has to write. The network replaced it with an editor’s note: The piece “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled.”

Music to Trump’s ears, no doubt. At 3:33 a.m., the early morning tweeter typed, “Wow. CNN had to retract big story on ‘Russia,’ with three employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!”

CNN needs to do two things: Slow down, and conduct a thorough investigation of how and why this media-damaging mistake happened. Yes, it gives CNN a black eye, but it also hurts thousands of other journalists across the country because it feeds the president ammunition to continue attacking news outlets.

The cable network has been in the midst of an impressive hiring spree and is garnering much more attention than it did in the pre-Trump days. One gets the feeling that it is moving too fast, trying to do too much too quickly.

Reports are circulating that red flags flew from CNN’s legal team and standards team, but they were ignored. This was not a “wow, look at this, Martha” story. Why did it have to go online without being thoroughly vetted?

It’s baffling. I know how strictly mainstream news organizations follow internal editorial processes such as fact-checking, double fact-checking, and standards and legal reviews. Especially with sensitive investigative stories, where you want to be both right and bullet-proof against lawsuits.

Politico reported that Scaramucci called the story’s reporter, Thomas Frank, and hinted of a potential lawsuit if it wasn’t removed. It was, which speaks volumes. Even more mind-boggling is that the men who resigned are not rookies. CNN editor Eric Lichtblau spent 15 years at The

New York Times and won a Pulitzer for national reporting. Thomas Frank is a seasoned former USA TODAY and Newsday reporter and a Pulitzer finalist. Lex Haris joined CNN in 2001 and headed the newly beefed-up investigative unit.

CNN owes journalists and the public a detailed explanation of what went wrong. It needs to recognize that transparency is the new objectivity in this media climate. The more people understand how the news media work and what pressures they are up against, the more likely people are to find them credible. And credibility is what journalism needs most, especially now.

Alicia Shepard is a veteran media writer and a former ombudsman for NPR.