BuzzFeed Memo Tells Staff to Label Donald Trump ‘Mendacious Racist’

“BuzzFeed News’s reporting is rooted in facts, not opinion; these are facts,” editor-in-chief Ben Smith writes

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BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith instructed staff on Tuesday that they can label Donald Trump a “mendacious racist” when reporting on him.

In a memo, Smith tells staffers it’s “entirely” fair to use the label.

“It is, for instance, entirely fair to call him a mendacious racist, as the politics team and others here have reported clearly and aggressively: He’s out there saying things that are false, and running an overtly anti-Muslim campaign.”

He concluded BuzzFeed’s reporting is based “in facts, not opinion; these are facts.”

Smith promised staff that they won’t get in trouble on Twitter, but he would “steer away from suggesting his views are those of all Republicans or conservatives,” since “Dick Cheney condemned him yesterday, for instance.”

Take a look at Smith’s full memo below.

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