Jury Now Deliberating in High-Stakes CNN Defamation Trial

CNN’s fate in a high-stakes defamation trial now lies with the jury.

Navy veteran Zachary Young is seeking damages from the network over a November 2021 report in which the network’s chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt, reported that bad actors were reportedly running a black market and charging exorbitant fees to Afghans attempting to flee their country after the Taliban retook control of it earlier that year.

“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 anchor Jake Tapper at the top of the segment. Marquardt went on to mention only one name in connection with this unsavory practice, Young’s.

The segment also included a picture of Young and chyrons that read “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.”

Internal CNN communications brought to light in the discovery process revealed that some CNN employees believed Marquardt’s story was “a mess,” “incomplete,” “very much not ready for prime time,” “80% emotion, 20% obscured fact,” and “full of holes like Swiss cheese.” Others showed that Marquardt boasted that he was going to “nail this Zachary Young mf*****” and agreeing with a producer that Young had a “punchable face.”

In his lawsuit, Young’s team alleges that CNN had published “lies” about his business:

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.

In his closing statement on Thursday, Young’s attorney, Devin Freedman, accused CNN of mounting “a calculated attack” that “inflicted deep and lasting wounds.”

“Zach’s ability to walk into a room with pride and being seen as a professional with integrity has been stripped away. His pain and suffering, mental anguish, seeing his name dragged through the mud,” he continued. “These are injuries that transcend monetary loss. They pierce the soul of who he is, who he was.”

CNN lawyer David Axelrod (not the Democratic political strategist and CNN commentator), on the other hand, asked jurors to consider whether they were seeing “a conspiracy” or “folks trying to do their best?”

The operative question of whether CNN can legally be held liable for defaming Young lies with the jury as of Thursday afternoon.