(REUTERS) - CNN, the news division of Time Warner Inc , said on Wednesday (Jan 11) its decision to publish "carefully sourced reporting" on unverified intelligence documents concerning President-elect Donald Trump is "vastly different than BuzzFeed's decision to publish unsubstantiated memos."

CNN's statement came after Trump called the news outlet"fake news" and refused to take a CNN reporter's questions at his first formal news conference since his Nov 8 electoral win.

BuzzFeed on Tuesday published a story about a dossier of documents it said were unverified and "potentially unverifiable"allegations of contact between Trump aides and Russian operatives.

Included in the documents were claims that Russian intelligence had compromising information about Trump.

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti in a memo to employees on Wednesday defended the decision to publish the dossier, referring to it as a "newsworthy document".

Throughout the news conference, Trump decried a CNN report on Tuesday that said US intelligence officials had presented Trump with claims that Russian operatives said they had compromising personal and financial information about him.