What CNN’s Threat to Dox a Redditor Tells Us About the State of Journalism

News organizations have become obsessed with fighting Donald Trump rather than covering him.

David Harsanyi is right on! 

The search for HanA**holeSolo began before anyone knew he was responsible for anti-Semitic or bigoted posts. CNN tracked down his identity because he had committed thought crimes, the worst of which was mocking CNN. The story was meant to tie a Trump tweet mocking CNN to a hateful meme maker and blow up.

That’s because news organizations have become obsessed with fighting Trump rather than covering him. For all the sanctimonious self-championing of the importance of journalism in the Trump era, stories like these have no real purpose. This piece didn’t educate viewers on the underbelly of social media, or the habits of the president, or anything else. It wasn’t an argument over ideas or policy. It wasn’t entertainment. It was a story birthed from the hysterics that erupted over a silly meme Trump retweeted.