BuzzFeed editor-in-chief: fair to call Donald Trump a 'mendacious racist'

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/dec/09/buzzfeed-editor-in-chief-donald-trump

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BuzzFeed journalists have been told they can call Donald Trump a “mendacious racist” on social media as a matter of fact.

In a memo to staff, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith said that describing the Republican presidential candidate as a liar and a racist would not violate BuzzFeed rules about avoiding political partisanship on social media.

“It is, for instance, entirely fair to call him a mendacious racist, as the politics team and others here have reported clearly and aggressively,” wrote Smith. “He’s out there saying things that are false and running an overtly anti-Muslim campaign. BuzzFeed News’s reporting is rooted in facts, not opinion; these are facts.”

Though the memo says staff will not get in trouble for using such descriptions of Trump on social media, Smith advises against getting involved in “political troll wars”.

Here's a memo I sent to @buzzfeed staff today on our social media policy, and Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/zCiDds3C29

However, he added that there was “nothing partisan about accurately describing Donald Trump”.

Trump has denied he is a racist, telling Fox News last month that he was “probably the least racist person on earth”, and has dismissed allegations he has lied on issues such as his claims that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheered the September 11 attacks in New York.

Media in the US and around the world have extensively covered Trump’s increasingly controversial pronouncements, helping him stay in the public eye.

Figures from NBC released last week showed that Trump has managed to build a lead despite spending just £217,000 on broadcast advertising, the lowest figure among the leading candidates. In contrast, Jeb Bush has spent more than £28m but has failed to make a significant impact on the race.

Smith’s memo came just hours after Huffington Post president and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington announced that, following his statements about barring Muslims from entering the US, Trump’s campaign would no longer be classified as entertainment on the site.

In July Huffington Post moved Trump coverage to its entertainment section, saying his campaign was a “sideshow” that belonged next to stories about the Kardashian family and The Bachelorette.

However, Huffington said it was now clear Trump represented an “an ugly and dangerous force in American politics” that should be covered with regular references to his views and false statements.

She said: “If Trump’s words and actions are racist, we’ll call them racist. If they’re sexist, we’ll call them sexist. We won’t shrink from the truth or be distracted by the showmanship.”