CNN was “bonkers” to “reserve the right to identify” the Reddit troll behind the doctored video of President Donald Trump beating the network’s logo to the ground, experts in media ethics have said.

The video was created by a user of the website Reddit, who goes by the online name “HanAssholeSolo”. CNN published an article detailing how its journalists tracked the man down, omitting his real name and adding that the network “reserves the right to publish his identity”.

Denis Muller, a senior research fellow at University of Melbourne’s Centre for Advancing Journalism, said the sentence was “bonkers” and “muddleheaded”.

“On what basis do they hold this kind of open-ended threat over this man’s head?” Dr Muller told The New Daily.

“They’re setting themselves up as some kind of moral police over this man’s social media output.”

In the article, CNN said it was: “… not publishing ‘HanAssholeSolo’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 of his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behaviour 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.”

Dr Muller said CNN should have identified the man outright, because he had already entered the public sphere with the video, or left him alone.

Andrew M Seaman, the ethics committee chairperson of the US Society of Professional Journalists, said CNN’s wording was “unusual”.

“Specifically, what would CNN do if the source breaks the agreement by once again becoming an online bully? Would CNN specifically write a story about the person breaking the agreement? Would it retroactively add his name to Sunday’s story?” he wrote in a blog post.

“Additionally, where would these types of agreements with sources end?

Would journalists agree not to identify a thief because he or she promised never to steal again?

Mr Seaman stopped short at calling it blackmail, and said concealing his identity did not go against the journalistic code of ethics.

Josie Vine, a Senior Journalism Lecturer at RMIT, told The New Daily the role of the journalist was to be an observer, and merely inform the public.

“CNN is getting embroiled in a sort of personal argument with Trump. They are beginning to become a player in public life and that’s not good for anyone – certainly not good for the public.”

The CNN journalist who wrote the story, Andrew Kaczynski, said the line had been misinterpreted.

“It was intended only to mean we made no agreement with the man about his identity,” Mr Kaczynski said.

#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017

He said HanAssholeSolo issued his apology after he’d been contacted by CNN, but before he spoke to the journalist.

He said the man phoned him again after the backlash to say: “I am in total agreement with your statement. I was not threatened in any way.”

In a statement, the network said: “CNN decided 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.

“The user, who is an adult male, not a 15-year-old boy [as some social media sources asserted], apologised and deleted his account before ever speaking with our reporter. CNN never made any deal, of any kind, with the user.

“In fact, CNN included its decision to withhold the user’s identity in an effort to be completely transparent that there was no deal.”

CNN senior reporter Oliver Darcy said the sentence was poorly worded and could have been written to better communicate the point.

The network has been widely condemned for the article, with the President’s son Donald Trump Jr, Republican Senator Ted Cruz, and Australian whistleblower Julian Assange joining the pile-on.

Meanwhile, if CNN hoped to suppress “meme” videos of Mr Trump beating up CNN, that effort failed spectacularly as hundreds of clips flooded social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9wOBYklahk

Mr Trump shared the original video on Twitter on Sunday as he continued his assault on the news media. CNN then traced the video back to HanAssholeSolo, who was also behind racist and anti-Semitic posts.

The original footage used to create the doctored video was from Mr Trump’s 2007 WrestleMania XXIII event appearance when he slammed World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Vince McMahon to the ground.

Redditor HanAssholeSolo, the guy who posted the Trump/CNN clip the president tweeted, has apologized to @CNN, the media, and others pic.twitter.com/GlePoiSlFj

— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) July 4, 2017

https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/882713595263541252