Here’s What You Need to Know About the High-Stakes Defamation Case Against CNN

Jury selection in a defamation suit against CNN stemming from a November 2021 segment on The Lead with Jake Tapper begins Monday. Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming trial.

BACKGROUND

The segment in question featured anchor Jake Tapper and chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt, as well as the chyrons “AFGHANS TRYING TO FLEE TALIBAN FACE BLACK MARKETS, EXORBITANT FEES, NO GUARANTEE OF SAFETY OR SUCCESS” and “AFGHANS AND ACTIVISTS REPORT DEMANDS OF $10K-$14K FOR ATTEMPTS TO GET FAMILY MEMBERS OUT OF COUNTRY.”

“As CNN’s Alexander Marquardt has discovered, Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market full of promises, demands of exorbitant fees, and no guarantee of safety or success,” said Tapper at the time. Marquardt went on to mention only one name in connection with this supposedly unsavory practice, Navy veteran Zachary Young, whose face was featured alongside a graphic about “black markets” and “exorbitant fees.” Marquardt’s report suggested that Young illegally sold services to help get Afghans out of the country.

The segment later ran again on Jim Acosta’s show.

Young sued CNN for defamation in June 2022, submitting that while CNN “published a video segment claiming Young was ‘exploiting’ ‘desperate Afghans’ by offering evacuations from Afghanistan on a ‘black market,'” those were “lies published for sensationalism.” The case is finally going to trial this week after a series of victories for Young’s legal team.

YOUNG’S ARGUMENT

Young has submitted that CNN’s intention was to do reputational harm to him, and that it succeeded in tanking his consulting business.

Devin Freedman, a lawyer for the plaintiff, has argued that “CNN’s internal documents showed it was undeniably trying to hurt Mr. Young with its defamatory broadcasts.” Communications between CNN employees uncovered during the discovery process included admissions that the story was “a mess,” “incomplete,” “very much not ready for prime time,” “80% emotion, 20% obscured fact,” and “full of holes like Swiss cheese.”

Other communications showed that Marquardt remarked “We gonna nail this Zachary Young mf*****” and said it would be his “funeral.” A CNN producer, meanwhile, complained that Young had a “punchable face.”

“CNN, which ironically claims to be ‘The Most Trusted Name in News’ recklessly and
maliciously destroyed Young’s hard-earned reputation and his livelihood by publishing its false
and sensationalist ‘news’ segment to more than 90 million households after being told by Young
that their story was false,” alleged Young’s legal team in the initial filing, which added:

Clients and colleagues in the national security community simply cannot associate with anyone involved in ‘black markets’ or ‘exploitation.’ Thus, despite their falsity, CNN’s defamatory comments have rendered Young permanently unemployable in the career he has trained his whole life for, have resulted in Young’s income plunging to nothing, and have caused Young to suffer millions of dollars in lost income.

CNN’S APOLOGY

Complicating matters for the network is the fact that it has already admitted that its reporting on Young was flawed.

In March 2022, Pamela Brown offered an apology to Young while filling in for Tapper.

“In November, we ran a story about Afghans desperate to flee the country who faced paying high sums beyond the reach of average Afghans. The story included a lead-in and banner throughout the story that referenced a ‘black market,’” she said at the time. “The use of the term ‘black market’ in the story was an error. The story included reporting on Zachary Young. We did not intend to suggest that Mr. Young participated in the black market. We regret the error, and to Mr. Young we apologize.”

Judge William S. Henry, who is presiding over the case, has rejected the idea that the apology insulates CNN from legal action.

“This retraction, correction was not made during the other television shows in which the segment aired,” he noted in December. “No retraction, correction or any apology was posted on any online article or with any social media posting.”

CNN’S ARGUMENT

NPR’s David Folkenflik ably summed up the arguments CNN has mustered in its defense:

The network has argued in court papers that reporters were pursuing a story that reflected Afghans’ concern that security consultants, including Young, were charging far more than they could afford to escape the country. It contends that many of the characterizations are opinions rather than factual claims. CNN also says the network has since learned more about Young that undermines his credibility

In filings, the network’s attorneys have stated that “At the time of its reporting, CNN knew little about Young’s financials, his model, or whether he’d successfully evacuated anyone because whenever anyone [including CNN] asked Young to explain his business, he obfuscated, behaved unprofessionally, lied, and hid,” and noted that Young “largely refused to cooperate with CNN’s reporting efforts, providing little in the way of information and, in many cases, providing false information.”

CNN’s spokespeople have previously expressed confidence in the outcome of the trial, saying, “When all the facts come to light, we are confident we will have a verdict in our favor.”

CONTEXT

Young’s suit against CNN will be decided in the wake of other major defamation cases against national outlets.

In the spring of 2023, Fox News reached a staggering $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. The latter had originally sought $1.6 billion for alleged falsehoods about it connected to the 2020 presidential election amplified by Fox.

And just last month, ABC agreed to give $15 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential library after anchor George Stephanopoulos erroneously suggested that Trump had been found civilly liable of raping, rather than sexually abusing, E. Jean Carroll.