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CNN Warns It May Expose An Anonymous Critic If He Ever Again Publishes Bad Content (theintercept.com)
New submitter evolutionary writes: CNN appears to be giving veiled threats at a Reddit user who posted critical comments about the media giant. After an apology was given by the Reddit user (possibly under fear upon discovering CNN had his identity), CNN stated: "CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change." The story stems around Trump's July 2nd tweet, which includes a video showing him wrestle and takedown someone with a photoshopped CNN logo on their head. The video was accompanied by the hashtags #FraudNewsCNN and #FNN. CNN reportedly tracked down the Reddit user who claimed credit for the tweet and announced they would not publicize the user's identity since they issued a lengthy public apology, promised not to repeat the behavior, and claimed status as a private citizen. However, as The Intercept reports, "the network explicitly threatened that it could change its mind about withholding the user's real name if this behavior changes in the future: '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.'"
What the fuck?
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
get doxxed by a major news network.
Remember kids, it's different for the media.
Wow did CNN mess up. And that Cuomo guy truly screwed the pooch* You would think that growing up in a political family, with a Governor for a father and a brother that he wouldn't step in it so badly.
:)
What a colossal failure on the part of CNN.
* Yeah. The first time I ever used that expression.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
Remember this when an outlet claims to be anti-doxxing (or anti-harassment, or anti-racism, or anti-etc.) . . . they're full of shit unless they're against it happened to BOTH (read: all) sides.
So the gif is re-tweet by Trump.
CNN got someone to find out where it came from.
Journalist tracks down person who created it.
They find out he's a racist piece of shit.
They try to contact him.
He freaks the fuck out and deletes everything and apologies.
He then contacts CNN apologizing and begs them not to name him.
CNN find him genuine and agree, and publish his account of things.
CNN reserve the right to publish his name in case he renegs (e.g. 'haha CNN so dumb I played them')
I see no problem here
What are you talking about. He made a f**king animated gif. And CNN is threatening him? WTF?
You think that if it was reversed - if the CNN wrestler was beating up on Trump - that CNN would go after him? The optics for CNN are f**king awful.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
If it's news then publish it. If its not news then don't publish it. What they're doing has nothing to do with journalism and is straight up blackmail in exchange that he stop saying mean things about CNN on the internet.
He slandered them? Mocking == slandering?
Let's see Donna Brazille passing questions to Hillary.
CNN knowing that the Russia story is fake.
And you think that this gif is "slandering?"
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
Kind of amazing that CNN is actually capable of doing investigations on their own. Here I didn't think they had it in them. After all, they've been hammering the Trump Russian Collusion story for MONTH after MONTH with such slim evidence in the face of mounting evidence that their supposed version of the events didn't/couldn't have actually happened....
So, now that Trump Tweets a link to a video, they are going all investigative reporter on some reedit user who actually made the video to amuse his followers? Then, once they find out who it is, go all out threatening some teenager who DARED to poke fun?
You idiots over there at CNN deserve the bad PR that's coming. Keep it up and you guys are going to be out of business as your watchers abandon you in droves...
From another point of view, CNN was perfectly within its rights to publish the critic's name, as the information is newsworthy, but they protected his/her anonymity. Calling CNN's final disclaimer a "threat" is a matter of perspective (and politics, perhaps)....
I don't think that if this CNN GIF was the only thing this troll had done, he'd be terribly worried about it. From the CNN article:
"HanA**holeSolo's" other posts on Reddit, some of which included racist and anti-Semitic imagery
The troll doesn't want his racist trolling to come back to haunt him. CNN cut him some slack this time. You say they could have done this in a much better way - care to elaborate? As I pointed out above, I only see two other options - publish his name, or not publish and don't give him a warning, which seems disingenuous since the threat is implicit once they have your information.
I don't have a lot of sympathy for trolls who suddenly find they are not as anonymous as they thought they were.
Nothing? Not run the story, because it was never a story!
I mean seriously "some guy on the internet made a video from some 20+ year old footage of the president and out logo" Its NOT news. They tried to turn it into another "OMG the sky is falling, the Trump backers are doing violence to everyone..." because the simple fact is that most of the "violence" that happened during and after the election fell into two categories, hoaxes, and acts actually committed by left leaning presumably Hillary supporting people and groups.
CNN made a story about nothing because they thought they could advance their cause of damaging the President. They are plenty aware the frenzied mob they have created will destroy his life, and figured they could silence him while they were at using his stuff to fan their flames.
They ONLY reason this is a thing is because CNN decided it was going to be, so its very much on them. So when they basically threaten to then dox this guy, its nothing short of abusive. CNN is terrible network run by terrible people its not even #FakeNews, its just garbage. CNN is no better than the Inquirer
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
I totally disagree with the actions taken by CNN.
This is a disgusting example of groups or news agencies moving to the new bar that the Trump administration has set.
I will get down voted but it is true. This is an exact action that Trump, and this administration has done. Post or say something we don't like and we will sue / threaten you until you apologize or go away.
I am really upset by this trend and it is why I stay armed.
love the taste, hate the texture
Well if that isn't an example of suppression of free speech, I don't know what is. We don't have to agree, but to threaten to hurt his life has no place. One guy on a forum is hardly newsworthy as he wasn't a politician, nor had a significant following. He had no real power except to piss of an executive. Under no circumstances should any journalist put a condition on releasing information. That crosses the line with a major step. The better option is to ignore it. Not to make themselves the story by committing an action that at best is professional misconduct. At worst, it's threatening someone's life/safety. A reporter is report the news in an objective manner, not make their organization the story and then threaten the source. By doing this CNN has reached a new official low in the news professional/business.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
Freedom of speech does not imply freedom from consequences.
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
You don't think it's news that the POTUS is tweeting (remade) GIFs which just happen to be made by a troll who also, purely coincidentally, puts out racist and anti-semitic posts?
It's the fact that Trump uses this type of material which makes it news. The fact is that once they had tracked this guy down the did not DOX him, but the fact is also that they could, and that fact doesn't change because they say it out loud or not.
Bitch about being doxxed
Remember kids, it's only bad if your opponent does it
Why should CNN have this power? I'm loathe to defend either in this case, but it seems that free speech (in lieu of libel/slander) gives a troll a right to his/her boorish behavior.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
The guy had also posted racist and anti-semitic trolls.
So his real crime was being a non-protected class since if he was black / gay / other protected class he would never be held accountable for saying anything he pleased. Citation: see Milo Yiannopoulos
And another view is that CNN pursued a mater of public interest (the video) discovered the originator, investigated their history and found out they routinely posted anti-Semitic and racist posts, discovered who that person was and contacted them for comment. Even 1 year ago they would have published his name without a second thought (just like Fox News or any other publication).
The guy then contacted CNN and convinced them to withhold his name, they did so but noted that if he continued to be a story of interest due to his postings that they wouldn't withold his name again. There is nothing untoward about that, would you have felt better if they just named him without a second thought like they and everyone else would have even a year ago?
I'm just happy we made some progress and they didn't name him straight away. Personally I'm torn about this, I believe people who post stuff like that should be outed to their family and friends so that the people they associate with can know what that person really thinks. But at the same time I don't think people should lose jobs over stuff posted on the internet and I don't believe anyone needs to be national news for views like that.
It's funny how when the bully's get bullied back, they suddenly don't like it.
This isn't bullying it is blackmail which in many countries is an actual crime. Had CNN just revealed his name as part of a news story you could classify that as bullying (mess with us and suffer the consequences). Where they crossed the line, and arguably committed a crime, is when they threatened to do this unless he continues to do what they want.
What are you talking about? CNN isn't threatening him. Not by any legal or moral standard
That's equivocating bullshit. The meaning of their statement is clear.
So CNN is willing to let their reporters go to jail to protect the anonymity of a source, but if you are critical of CNN they will doxx you. Nice
If you disagree, please post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like
Making a gif of the CNN logo being wrestled is in no way the same thing as threatening violence.
Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
Follow this (probably ill-conceived) logic:
The easiest thing for CNN to do would have been to ignore it. Now a publicly traded company is threatening minors over a dumb meme. People will lose their jobs. Also, someone will find this kid and ruin is life, just because.
"Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
We all have this power. If someone says something racist to you at a bar, you can record him and publish it with his real name on the youtubes. But should you?
You can do that...
But what you CANNOT do is to record him and tell him "if you don't do what I want, I'll post it."
That is blackmail and is a very serious crime...
So if I said "I'll let you live, for now" that would not be a threat? "I'll let you live, as long as you x" would not be coercion with a threat against noncompliance?
The word threat does not have a minimum threshold. Either something is a threat or it isn't, regardless how bad the thing threatened is.
I don't make racist or anti-Semitic comments when I'm "blowing off steam" or for the "lulz", I don't belittle people to make myself feel better. If you do this you should be perfectly happy with your friends, neighbors and family members finding out you do it. If you are embarrassed or ashamed for doing this shit then you KNOW what you are doing is wrong.
I'm not ashamed or afraid of anything I've posted becoming attached to my real name, are you? If you are you should grow the fuck up and stop being an asshole.
CNN has no privacy agreement or obligation to keep this person's ID private. Inasmuch as this person has caused a media event thanks to their creative editing, they have made themselves into a newsworthy subject and thus CNN Is well within norms of journalism to reveal who it is.
For that matter, so is any other part of the media. If any of them also have the identity, then there is ground to attempt to interview them as part of a news story.
TL;DR version: this person has no expectation of privacy thanks to a news event they helped create. If you want privacy, don't do shit like this or at least be better at hiding who the fuck you are.
Sig for hire.
Although they have a reputation to protect, they could have done this in a much better way.
No. *Because* they have a reputation to maintain they had to do in a better way. Now they just look like monsters. They threatened all private individuals not to mock them or risk becoming their target. Anytime you see CNN now, you have to ask yourself "what other information are they suppressing?"
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
What "redress"? Racist speech is protected under the 1st amendment. They were not a victim of libel or slander. They were a target of mockery. That's protected speech both because it was clearly a parody and because it was political speech.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
The guy has been advocating for violence against minorities. His identity should have been revealed. And CNN didn't do anything special since any idiot could have done the same, all his information is public
Purely in the interest of fairness, there are archives from Reddit of his account that indicate that he's at least 27 and more likely 30-something, if the comments are to be believed. I don't know where that rumor started, but I prefer when people back that with facts and there are enough damning facts for CNN as is without adding items that cannot be proven to the mix.
In the end, CNN massively over-reacted to a silly picture here and I don't think the age of the person is all that relevant with respect to their threats, only with respect to a few of the statutes that require a minor.
It's coercion, plain and simple