Have you heard about this case? A US veteran named Zachary Young is suing CNN for defamation over a 2021 news segment which he claims ruined his reputation and made it impossible for him to get new business.
The Young case concerns a segment that first aired on Jake Tapper’s program on Nov. 11, 2021, about extraction efforts in Afghanistan. Young had built a business helping such efforts, and advertised his services on LinkedIn to sponsors with funding who could pay for such evacuation.
He subsequently helped four separate organizations — Audible, Bloomberg, a charity called H.E.R.O. Inc. and a Berlin-based NGO called CivilFleet Support eV — get more than a dozen people out of Afghanistan, according to court papers. He said he did not market to — or take money from — individual Afghans.
Yet Young’s picture was shown as part of CNN story that talked about a “black market” where Afghans were charged $10,000 or more to get family members out of danger.
Five months after the clip aired, Young complained and CNN issued a clarification that he was not involved in any black market. Nevertheless, he sued and when CNN asked a judge to dismiss his case, the judge refused. Yyoung is seeking $1 billion in damages.
Fox News reported yesterday that corporate types at CNN are worried because the trial could potentially lead to a big payout at a time when CNN can ill afford it.
“It’s a big concern of upper management,” a CNN insider told Fox News Digital. “All the damning stuff, text messages, etc., has already been published. So I don’t think there’s concern in terms of exposure. But I think there’s definitely concern about the outcome. It seems very likely that CNN is going to have an enormous payout at the end of this.”
Also yesterday, the Washington Free Beacon painted a picture of a trial where the attorney for CNN (whose name is David Axelrod) didn’t seem to be connecting with the jury. […]
— Read More: hotair.com
