State Dept hits CNN for using US envoy’s journal

The State Department criticized CNN’s handling of a personal journal belonging to US ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, saying it was “disgusting.” On Saturday, CNN.com explained that it found the journal of Stevens – killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi – “on the floor of the largely unsecured consulate compound.” The network said the personal journal was used only for “tips” later corroborated by sources and that it was returned to Stevens’ family through an Italian diplomat. State Department Spokesman Philippe Reines Reines said CNN “completely ignored the wishes of the family” when it reported on the journal’s contents. CNN countered there were issues that required full reporting and that “the public had a right to know…about the warnings of a terror threat…which are now raising questions about why the State Department didn’t do more to protect Ambassador Stevens and other US personnel.”

Read the full story on The Huffington Post. 

The Wallstreet Journal has other details. 

CNN’s version of the story is available here.