A Costly Retraction for CNN and an Opening for President Trump

In CNN’s newsroom, it is called the Triad: a three-pronged internal system designed to ensure that sensitive reporting by the network’s journalists is unimpeachable before it runs. Recently, the Triad fell short — and by June 27, the consequences were being felt across the news industry and in the hallways of the White House. CNN was forced to apologize after retracting a story on its website that a Russian bank linked to a close ally of President Donald Trump was under Senate investigation. Three high-ranking journalists at the network resigned.

But the mea culpa did not stop President Trump and his supporters from seizing on the mistake, condemning CNN and claiming it as evidence that other major news organizations were conspiring against the administration. On Twitter, President Trump wrote that “they caught Fake News CNN cold” and asked, “What about all the other phony stories they do?” News organizations regularly issue corrections and, in rarer instances, retract a story. Other journalists praised CNN for taking responsibility after a painful black eye. But the ferocious response on Tuesday was a reminder of CNN’s unique role as a nemesis for President Trump, who says the network has unfairly tried to tie him to Russian interference in last year’s election — and underlined the heightened tensions between the news media and an administration that has curtailed access and labeled the news media an “opposition party.”