Three seasoned journalists at CNN have resigned after the network retracted a story investigating links between a Russian investment fund and an American financier and adviser to President Donald Trump.
Those who resigned were past Pulitzer Prize finalist, Thomas Frank; Lex Haris, veteran editor at the network, and Eric Lichtblau, who was also a Pulitzer nominee.
The Russia-related story, published last week, reported Congress was investigating the ties of a Russian investment fund to an aide of Mr Trump.
CNN reported an internal investigation found that certain editorial processes and standards were not followed when the article was published, and the network then deleted the story from the website.
The story was replaced with an editor's note of apology to Anthony Scaramucci, the Trump aide who was investigated in the story.
The episode is a damaging blow for a network that Mr Trump has frequently derided as "fake news".
Not surprisingly, Mr Trump took the opportunity to attack the network, which regularly bears much of the brunt of his rhetorical attacks on the press.
In response to the news, Mr Trump tweeted, "Wow CNN had to retract big story on "Russia" with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!"
Newshub.
