CNN defends its image on Trump's accusation of fake news

One cannot browse through news sites today without some sort of update on all things Trump related. Most recently news site CNN received a painful jab on its credibility from the outspoken president of the United States.The news site has since issued a statement on the company’s website defending "fake news" allegations by Trump. The company stated that it was "fully confident in their reporting” and went ahead to challenge Trump's claim.It said, “Given that members of the Trump transition team have so vocally criticised our reporting, we encourage them to identify, specifically, what they believe to be inaccurate.”The conundrum first started last week, when CNN’s Jim Acosta challenged Trump refused to take a question from CNN, as dismissed the broadcast company as “terrible”. Various media outlets, quoted his retort back to Acosta as, “Not you. Your organisation is terrible. I am not going to give you a question. You’re fake news.”This accusation by Trump came a day after CNN reported that intel chiefs had briefed Trump and former President Obama about memos which claimed that the Russian operatives had compromising personal and financial information about Trump.Soon after, Buzzfeed published a dossier which included a collection of memos written over a period of months between Trump aides and Russian operatives, but termed it as “unverified” at the same time. Trump also lashed out at Buzzfeed and expressed his displeasure on Twitter.One can understand why CNN has not taken this allegations lightly. It has over the years reported on many reputable breaking news and has made significant investments in marketing plans. For instance, recently, the company created a new media brand with a YouTube content creator, with an investment of US$25 million.The company also recently launched native advertising product to optimise the performance of digital campaigns from commercial partners and enhance the experience of audiences engaging with branded content and digital advertising on CNN platforms. Brands such as Huawei, Qatar and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries  are some of the clients it currently partners with to create customised programmes and ads. As such, the broadcaster has quite a fair bit running on its reputation.