CNN found liable for defaming Navy veteran

A Florida jury has found CNN liable for defamation in a lawsuit involving US Navy veteran Zachary Young. The case stems from a 2021 report that falsely suggested the country illegally profited from the evacuation of people from Afghanistan, which the Biden administration failed to adequately address before the failed withdrawal.

A jury awarded Young $5 million in damages after determining that CNN’s reporting defamed him.

Young claimed the network labeled him a “profiteer” exploiting “desperate Afghans” and “destroyed his reputation and business.”

These claims surfaced in Alex Marquardt’s report on November 11, 2021, which first aired on CNN. Reed with Jake Tapper.

in a statement to fox newsCNN said it hopes to learn some lessons from vilifying veterans, but is proud of the alleged journalists.

“We are proud of our journalists, and at CNN we are 100% committed to strong, fearless and fair-minded reporting. We will, of course, learn valuable lessons from this incident.” they said in a statement.

CNN claims defamation lawsuit unsuccessful

CNN hasn’t provided fair reporting in decades. This defamation trial is further proof of that. They saw a man trying to help those left behind by President Biden, and in turn realized that this was a black eye on the administration, and decided they had to bury him.

The alleged “journalists” are a branch of Democratic Party activists and nothing more.

But what provided some entertainment was that after awarding Young $5 million in damages, the jury ended up awarding the network significant punitive damages. And CNN asked for leniency, citing its own financial failures over the past few years.

According to court documents, the network’s revenue amounted to about $400 million over three years.

“So CNN has made the decision to assume liability. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasonable paths forward,” CNN’s lawyers argued to the jury. “In the next few hours…you’re going to hear about CNN’s net worth. And you’re going to see a subtle decline in the company’s net worth.”

$400 million is not a small amount.

CNN’s lawyers objected to the network receiving punitive damages (after being found liable in a defamation case against Navy veteran Zachary Young), saying it would cause economic harm to the company and lead to wildfires. They argue that it hinders their ability to report on major breaking news events, such as crises surrounding… pic.twitter.com/TjEEb8ZN8D

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 17, 2025

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Unable to deliver news

Even more interesting is the fact that CNN had just been found liable for defamation and felt that excessive punishment was unfair as it would hinder its ability to provide even more biased news reporting.

“When a natural disaster strikes, CNN is there. It’s a hurricane, it’s a wildfire, it’s an earthquake. When a conflict like the one we heard about in this case breaks out, CNN is there,” the lawyers argued. did. “And it costs money to provide all that content, the content that really matters.”

Conflict has broken out in Afghanistan. There was CNN. And they were found guilty of defaming the hero. They hope to continue reporting like this.

CNN and Young reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount before a jury determined punitive damages.

The settlement was announced shortly after expert witnesses suggested a reasonable penalty of $150 million for the network. There’s a good chance the penalty was somewhere in that ballpark.