That sure was a COMPLETE(LY incorrect) rundown.

CNN "went after" (read, investigated and did a story on) the reddit user who claimed to be the origin of the meme. They said as much in their reporting.

Online anonymity is a nice thing to have, and I'm glad CNN exercised discretion in not publishing his name, but CNN probably does have the right to expose his personal identity no matter what. I am not a lawyer, but reddit users aren't like, protected FBI informants or anything. It's not life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and guarnateed anonymity online. 

Finally, there is no evidence that there was any deal, or any "word", or any other kind of quid pro quo exchange between CNN and the reddit user. Any time you guys imply that, you're affixing your own narrative to the situation. 

I 100% agree that CNN is guilty of extremely poor phrasing, but their clarification makes it clear that there was no deal. They say the phrasing was included to make it clear that there was no deal, and that they weren't publishing his name out of discretion (i.e., no deal). If you have proof that they're lying, I'm all ears. Anything else is just speculation about what is really an extremely unlikely event if you think it all the way through. 

A few things,

1.) Rushing a story to print based on bad info is not "making fake news". It is regretably, something that happens in journalism. It happens a lot less at the most reputable outlets. At less reputable outlets, they fire people for it. At the least reputable outlets, they don't even acknowledge it (more on that in a second). I consider CNN to be in that middle tier. Spin? Sure. Entertainment over information? You bet. Flat out deceit? Nah.

2.) CNN, like most large organizations, is not a giant, monolithic body. As such, a segment producer like Carr, or a talking head like Van Jones, may have a different opinion about what constitutes a story than the reporters pounding the pavement. I work for a large company of over 3,000 employees. There is frequent disagreement about what opportunities are worth pursuing or what risks are worth considering. That's how things work.

3.) Here's the best part. Remember that lowest tier of reputable outlets I mentioned earlier? Project Veritas is one of those extremely low tier outlets. They've been busted multiple times, doctoring video and selectively editing in an attempt to willfully deceive. You may recognize Project Veritas as the outlet who released the Van Jones and Jimmy Carr videos.

Maybe the stuff in the CNN sting videos is accurate. Maybe it's not. Either way, this illustrates my point beautifully. 

Media outlets that are traditionally thought of as left-leaning, (The Times, The Post, NPR, and yes, even CNN) will mess up occasionally. But they are held accountable. 

Alternative outlets such as Breitbart, Fox News, Project Veritas, the Gateway Pundit, or fuck, even the White House, mess up just as much or more. Quite often, they willfully deceive. No one holds them to any kind of standard though.

And that's where we are. It is easy to dismiss all media. It's easy to say that it's all biased and all fake. But just the bit of nuance shows that you have a group of outlets that is held accountable, and plays by a certain set of rules. Then you have other outlets, who play by no rules, and are accountable to no one.

It's plain as day. 

What the actual hell??

CNN has the right to publish someone's identity because of a meme? The hell?

Probably. Let's ask a lawyer.

Over reaction incoming: Ok especially after this I think they should have just revealed his personal info.  You reap what you sow, you want to be an ass hat racist, perhaps you deserve to get punched in the face. The reality is, I'm sure, some people would do much worse to this guy than that so CNN did the right thing in not revealing his personal info. I do think he should be punched in the arm really hard though.  I just wish people would take personal responsibility for their actions.


I still think CNN is shit


I think Trump has waaay more important things to do and should stay the hell off of twitter.  I slammed Obama for all the golfing and Trump deserves the same. You have a fucking country to run man and it isn't like we're doing great.

CNN has more important things to do than to put a dude's life in danger. Forget him- what about relatives? It'd be sad if his young nephew or niece got attacked by an asshole.

Also, it's sad how often trump golfs. It surpasses Obama's rate by a tremendous amount. Add in the amount of fundraisers and twitter usage and Trump is a flatout joke. However, many trump supporters prefer to ignore my criticism and use the same arguments:

1. 'Lol r u triggered'

2. Bring in Obama somehow

3. Blame liberals/sjw's

4. Somehow bring in immigrants

5. Literally ignore all evidence and criticism

Reminds me of a dude on here who was ranting about liberals, gays, immigrants, muslims, and Obama. Y'know, typical altright stuff. Somehow generalized all Palestinians as violent Muslims who kill innocent Israelis/Jews lol. Once I used facts against him, he didn't respond. Not as if I expected more out of these people.

Politics nowadays is being an asshole while sticking fingers in your ear

No, none of that is LEGAL at all, that is why people are opting for this person to reveal his identity.

We already know that this reddit user was NOT the maker of the meme. An anonymous man in Mexico has already said the meme Trump retweeted was mine, his was just a base and he wasn't the creator or involved with Trump in any way. We've known this for over a day now, just because it isn't CNN telling you this doesn't mean it's wrong.

Next, his meme does fall under the first ammendment, you know, that one CNN LOVES to quote whenever they claim to be under attack? This was a meme before it became a different meme, therefore it was always a joke. I remember this video clip being a meme FAR before Trump announced he would run, so no, just because times change doesn't mean it incites violence now, it's a joke and an anology of current events. It's the internets form of political satire comics in newspapers, it's a parody and that's it. CNN has no right to go after a guy threatening to expose his identity for expressing his first ammendment right.

Next, CNN themselves. When the meme was retweeted, they were flipping out not because Trump's antics were somewhat childish (they were), but rather because it incites violence somehow. CNN somehow made Trump look mature in retweeting that meme through their own political coverage, saying it promotes violence against their network in that all Trump supporters would raise up behind the banner of Vince McManhon with the CNN logo plastered to his face and that they were all under threats because of it. That's just dumb to say the least.

AND THEN, they have the nerve to post that story.

CNN basically says yeah we did some shady things to get his identity, but he issued an apology so we won't post it. However, if he goes against that apology he made for us, we might reconsider. That is a mafia complex right there, and in NO way can it be considered the correct way to handle a situation. They have no rights to police their agenda on one man for posting a meme, and they sure as hell don't have it if he were to say one pro-Trump thing online. That's why many lawyers who have appeared on air said the man has a strong case against CNN.

I am not going to go any further on this topic. I've said all that is true regarding the case. If you actually want to know what happen, this thread breaks it down, that is of course you want to listen to someone other than CNN.

Politics nowadays is being an asshole while sticking fingers in your ear

No, none of that is LEGAL at all, that is why people are opting for this person to reveal his identity.