Posted on 07/04/2017 10:53:39 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Journalists were gobsmacked to discover that Trump tweeted an animated GIF of him from his wrestling days knocking out someone with the CNN logo superimposed over his head. Among the scandalized were the “targets” of the tweet – CNN itself.
And so, CNN did what any reasonable, sensible, and journalistic operation would do: they sought out the person who originally made the GIF on Reddit.
(TWEET-AT-LINK)
Reddit user”HanA**holeSolo” first shared the GIF last Wednesday of Trump pummeling a wrestler with CNN’s logo imposed on his face. CNN could find no earlier instance of the GIF. The GIF was later edited into a video with sound and tweeted by the President on Sunday.
On Reddit, “HanA**holeSolo” took credit for inspiring the tweet. Soon after, “HanA**holeSolo’s” other posts on Reddit, some of which included racist and anti-Semitic imagery, quickly circulated on social media.
Oh good. Glad to know CNN is pursuing the most important news of the day.
Why on EARTH is this a story that needed to be told? Are we going to seek out the creators of every meme, Photoshop, and video posted by every politician now? Or just the ones we disagree with? Or just Trump? How is this going to work? If something contains a news organization’s logo, is it the responsibility of that organization to seek out the maker of the file?
This is an absolutely absurd piece of journalism – the type of thing I’d expect a blogger with an ideological vendetta to pull. Not something CNN attaches its name to… or, at least something I wouldn’t have expected of them prior to 2017.
But, the title of this post mentions “VENGEANCE!” and this is what made me think some of that was involved:
After posting his apology, “HanA**holeSolo” called CNN’s KFile and confirmed his identity. In the interview, “HanA**holeSolo” sounded nervous about his identity being revealed and asked to not be named out of fear for his personal safety and for the public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family.
CNN is not publishing “HanA**holeSolo’s” name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.
CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.
That last line (emphasis mine) seems a whole lot like a threat, doesn’t it? Maybe it’s not meant to be, but at the same time, it sounds an awful lot like a warning shot. “Hey, you do this again, and we’re blowing the whistle.”
This is just stupid, and it does absolutely nothing for CNN. People who hate Trump will be happy one of his “supporters” got put in his/her place. People who love Trump will see this as an attempt by a biased media to fight back against Trump.
It’s like these people have never dealt with the Internet before. People make things – stupid things and lots of them – on the Internet all the time. It’s not journalism to find out who these people are. It’s dumb.
UPDATE: For what it’s worth, both Andrew Kaczynski (who wrote the story) and the Reddit user say that there is no threat, implied or otherwise.
(TWEET-AT-LINK)
CNN is dead.
Even the left is looking at this crap they pulled — on July 4th, no less — as bizarre and Orwellian.
This is a formerly-respected news network acting like someone’s crazy ex-girlfrend.
That gif was the equivalent of a political cartoon.
Talk about your thin skin!
All of the shady and odd things the Clintons were involved in for the last 30+ years - the media does not have the slightest interest in investigating any of that.
Maybe it’s time to start outing the children of Time Warner and CNN employees and CEOs. Names, addresses and social media postings. I’m sure someone can dig up that information.
Interesting stuff coming from the gang over at the DU..not too many of them defending CNN...I got a kick out of the last one:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029288497#post3
12. It’s worrisome to see a professional news outfit behaving like this. I’m not going to ignore it just because I disagree with that redditor’s satire/speech. It honestly sounds like something a third world despot would say after their political prisoner apologized.
17. If it was Fauxnoise doing it to an anti-Trump redditor, the comments here would slightly different..We can’t take a side with this shit.
21. Yeah after hunting someone down who made satire at their expense..How nice of them! Like a despot releasing a political prisoner after a forced, groveling apology.
22. And that is a threat of shame (5) for participating in something he has the legal right to do.
It’s very cut and dried. Minimizing it with ‘simply’ is myopic. We don’t even want to PRETEND to support an idea like this. If you can’t see how this will go over with people, you R.E.A.L.L.Y. need out of the bubble.
Not to mention the reporter flipflopped on his story the second it was pointed out. Anyone paying attention should at least not ~defend~ their action, if you don’t choose to condemn it.
29. Our people say the same to the Nazi’s...You want CNN doxxing them too? Or are we just going to openly demand special pleading?
23. omg, the trolls just posted the home addresses and phone numbers of Wolf Blitzer, Don Lemon, Brian Stetler and others.
Good post.
It is wise for us all to remember that most of the Left thinks of CNN as “conservative.”
So what are the names of his other three brats?
Don’t go there.
I already did. Sue me!
You work is much appreciated.
You guys make it all worth it.
THUG JOURNALISM: CNN Threatens To Reveal Identity Of Reddit Man Who Made Trump-CNN Bodyslam Meme If He Disobeys Them
http://www.dailywire.com/news/18259/thug-journalism-cnn-threatens-reveal-identity-ben-shapiro
How stupid is CNN to still have this as their top story on their website, unless they want to send a message.
“the Left thinks of CNN as “conservative.”
This story cuts across all lines...CNN made a HUGE mistake!
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