That's not my thesis. My thesis is that CNN perfectly reasonably led on a story about a 91 year old being abused by reporting on the 91 year old being abused. The photo of a beaten up 91 year old is a more fitting photo at this stage than whatever mug shot of the suspect they might get.
It was Lewk's thesis that CNN didn't provide a photo of the attacker (like they didn't report the race of the verbal attacker in my link) because of their race. I think that's garbage and they led with the photo of the victim as it was the more appropriate while simultaneously more shocking and more newsworthy image.