From my understanding, the update was aiming at bad UX websites so that could be the problem. Again, that's no big deal and is fixable since they have a fantastic backlink profile. As you said, this is all probably a publicity stunt and if that is the case they are even douches than I thought.
RE: CCN has no right to bash Google for what happened. The SEO landscape is constantly shifting and if you don't adapt you fall behind.