Iain Dale: Buzzfeed Should Be Ashamed Of Themselves For Printing Trump Claims

11 January 2017, 17:49 | Updated: 11 January 2017, 18:17

Buzzfeed published lurid sexual allegations about Donald Trump, but admitted they were unverified. Iain Dale says that's nothing better than fake news - and they should be ashamed of themselves for publishing it.

The online news and entertainment site published reports that Donald Trump was involved in a bizarre incident in a Russian hotel room, involving prostitutes and urination.

Buzzfeed have admitted they couldn't "verify" or "falsify" the lurid claims, but Iain was riled up by their decision to publish the story anyway.

"Donald Trump took a question from one of Buzzfeed's reporters at his press conference and he said...'Buzzfeed is a flaming pile of garbage.'

"You can understand why he thinks that, bearing in mind what they've alleged about him over the past 24 hours.

"Why have they actually printed them?

"If you cannot verify something, if you cannot falsify something, why would you even mention it on your website?"

"That is disgraceful journalism.

It's not the kind of journalism that I even recognize as journalism. It's scuttlebutt! It's rumour-mongering! It's not reporting! It's not dealing with the facts.

"It is fake news and I'm afraid that Buzzfeed should be absolutely ashamed of themselves and I say that knowing several people that work for Buzzfeed in London, fine reputable journalists. I suspect they're absolutely ashamed of what their so-called news organisation has done today."