CNN criticized for blackmailing Trump bodyslam GIF maker

APD NEWS

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U.S. broadcaster CNN has come under criticism after it revealed on Tuesday its investigation into the identity of a Reddit user who allegedly created an anti-CNN GIF retweeted by President Donald Trump.

The GIF, posted on Reddit by a user late June, displays Trump body-slamming an embodiment of CNN, after it was doctored crudely from a 2007-recorded video clip of Trump attending a wrestling match. Some said it was a call for violence against the press.

The GIF went viral on social media when Trump tweeted it while labeling CNN as a fraud news outlet on Sunday. It has since then stirred condemnation and criticism across the political spectrum in the past days.

Meanwhile, the Redditor was found that he had posted a series of racist and anti-Semitic posts on the social media platform but later he deleted his prior posts and apologized to other Reddit users for "getting this site and this sub embroiled in a controversy that should never have happened."

"The meme was created purely as satire, it was not meant to be a call to violence against CNN or any other news affiliation," he added.

On Tuesday, CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski explained in an article that the news outlet had tracked down the Redditor by using a Facebook search and other biographical details that the man had made available on Reddit.

The Reddit user had an interview with CNN on Tuesday after failing to respond to CNN's email and phone call on Monday, wrote Kaczynski. He revealed that the middle-aged man sounded worried about safety and public embarrassment if his identity were to be made public.

CNN's investigative team said it decided not to reveal the man's identity "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."

However, the article added "CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change."

The caveat has received much criticism on social media, with many users denouncing CNN's threat to dox the Reddit user.

On Wednesday morning, the hashtag #CNNBlackmail started trending on Twitter as a result of the CNN move. Among the critics was Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks.

"A multi-billion dollar TV network blackmailing a private citizen into not making funny videos about it is not journalism, CNN," Assange tweeted.

Some even urged CNN's White House press credentials to be revoked.

As criticism started to pile up, Kaczynski tweeted a CNN statement, saying its "decision not to publish the name of the Reddit user out of concern for his safety."

"Any assertion that the network blackmailed or coerced him is false," read the statement. "CNN never made any deal, of any kind, with the user."

Earlier, White House sources were cited as saying that the GIF that Trump posted was not taken from Reddit. It is still unclear how the GIF ended up as a tweet from Trump.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)