From what I'm to gather by reading Part One, the author runs his own affiliate link SEO sites and is mad that big-name brands are doing it better by leveraging business deals and brand recognition.
It's disclosed on a banner across the top of literally every cnn-uncensored page that's being 'outed' here. He could have saved the entire research/dig by simply screenshotting the top of any of the pages. That wouldn't have the same energy or 'Ahah!' though.
If he wasn't going to investigate this, who would? CNN? USA Today?