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.
Here’s a memo I sent to @buzzfeed staff today on our social media policy, and Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/zCiDds3C29
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) December 9, 2015