‘The escalating war of words between CNN and President Donald Trump only continues to get worse. President Trump believes he is taking a stand against fake news, a label he has given to the network and other mainstream media sources. CNN, on the other hand, views itself as a frontline defender of the free press and democracy. The claim among many against the President is that his attacks are a threat to the First Amendment.
President Trump attacked a recent news story claiming he watches 4-8 hours of television per day. The story was picked up by a number of news sources, including CNN. In response, the President said it was false and that he doesn’t watch CNN or MSNBC. After that, he took a personal shot at anchor Don Lemon, who he called the “dumbest man on television.”
CNN naturally responded in defense of Lemon, as any employer should. The problem is the network continues to stand behind false and questionable reporting. The network also released a statement accusing the President of being a bully, comparing him to child bullies who torment other kids on the playground. It’s understandable that one would view this sort of language as bullying, but the problem here is CNN’s hypocrisy.
CNN is also the home of Andrew Kaczynski’s “Kfile.” The Kfile was involved with a threat to doxx a private citizen if that individual didn’t abide by the network’s demands. The incident involved an animation that President Trump tweeted, which showed a wrestling video of him taking down CNN. Despite the animation being obvious satire, Kfile tracked down the Reddit user allegedly responsible for making the gif.
After CNN contacted the Reddit user, the individual being harassed requested to keep his identity secret. Given the nature of the animation, he feared for his personal safety and the embarrassment that could come to his family.
The network responded with a statement that it would not reveal his identity only because agreed not to repeat the behavior CNN took issue with. It wasn’t out of fear for the safety of a private citizen, but purely because the individual had given into the network’s demands. The network then concluded their statement with “CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.”
CNN had essentially said that if the Reddit user made the network upset, they would embarrass him and potentially endanger him. This all over an internet visual. But President Trump is a bully?
CNN is in no position to talk about bullying. The network has been a disgrace for some time now. Individuals like Andrew Kaczynski run the network’s opposition research and internet hit team, which is hardly honorable. President Trump’s offense is calling anchor Don Lemon a bad name. CNN once threatened to expose a private citizen over comments he made online that the network disagreed with. Since when is blackmail not bullying? If anything, it’s a more pernicious form of bullying.
The debate rages on about whether the network is fake news, but at the very least, they’re hardly the standard for honest journalism. It’s a network of elitist hypocrites.
