CNN apologizes to Julian Assange after commentator calls him ‘a pedophile’

Putting aside for a moment the mechanism of this particular error (seemingly a slip-of-the-tongue), how has "pedophile" become the "witch" of our age?

Not even "child-molester," mind you, but "pedophile."

My concern is that this phenomenon can quite easily be activated by fake network traffic - it seems quite plausible to me that a person can be targeted for demonization (or worse) simply by fabricating the appearance of child pornography being transmitted, and now not only is the accusation very difficult to disprove (and yes, the illusory nature of the presumption of innocence is another related topic), but also casts the accused into the worst possible social characterization.