A Variety report suggesting that former CNN chief Jeff Zucker has spent the past year seeking to buy the network from Warner Bros Discovery was criticized as a “total joke” by Zucker’s representative on Tuesday, while other leading journalists criticized the investigative article for weak reporting.

Zucker’s spokeswoman Risa Heller denounced Tatiana Siegel’s 4,000 word piece on Zucker in a scathing statement to CNN’s Oliver Darcy for his “Reliable Sources” newsletter:

“There used to be a time when Variety held its content and its reporters to a high standard of truth and facts in journalism, but those days are clearly over. It is stunning to read a piece that is so patently and aggressively false,” Heller said on Tuesday night. “On numerous occasions, we made it clear to the reporter and her editors that they were planning to publish countless anecdotes and alleged incidents that never happened.