CNN defamation case goes to jury after strong closing arguments

Attorneys for U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young delivered powerful closing arguments Thursday as the high-profile defamation case against CNN heads to trial.

In a November 2021 report by reporter Alex Marquardt on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” the young CNN alleges that the Biden administration illegally profited from desperate people trying to flee Afghanistan following military withdrawals. Black market relationships and his professional reputation are tarnished as a result.

“It was CNN’s calculated attack on his character that caused a deep and lasting wound,” Young’s lead counsel, Vel Friedman, told jurors.

“Zach has been stripped of his ability to walk into a room with pride,” Friedman added.

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“The scars of this humiliation … will never go away,” Friedman said and reminded jurors that Young had been taking medication and receiving treatment for depression and panic attacks.

“This former Navy SEAL trainee, who was a CIA officer, can’t work anymore,” Friedman said.

“No man or woman should have to deal with that pain,” he continued. “And it’s certainly not because[CNN]wants clicks and views.”

Friedman accused CNN of “deliberately” omitting key facts from the on-air report shown on multiple programs; Young, for example, says he “didn’t think the Afghans would pay anything” and that he was only working with corporate sponsors.

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Friedman reminded jurors that while several CNN employees testified that the term “black market” was correct, others said the network’s on-air apology was unnecessary. Adam Levine, CNN’s senior vice president of news and chief editorial director, admitted under oath that CNN apologized to Yang only for legal reasons.

“None of them are sorry. They all said they would do it again,” Friedman told jurors.

Friedman pointed to Levine’s testimony that there was “no conspiracy” against Young, but told jurors that conversations in CNN’s internal documents proved otherwise.

The judges held CNN accountable and called on them to “redress this injustice and change the course of history.”

Friedman summarized who he was as a young man before the CNN segment, discussing his relationship with his mother, his wife, and his professional and military background. Young describes himself as a “former spy” trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, Blackwater and the Navy SEALs.

“Zach was at the peak of his professional career,” Friedman said.

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Young testified that he helped rescue at least 22 women and a child from Afghanistan on behalf of corporate sponsors, including Bloomberg Media and Amazon-owned Audible. Although that was omitted from the CNN report, Friedman told jurors that Young was anointed as a “predator” who operated on the “black market.”

Friedman also reminded jurors of key issues from the eight-day trial, such as CNN reporter Katie Bo Lillis’ failure to show Young would be the focus of the story, Marquardt saying there was no evidence Young used any Afghans, and Jake using Tapper’s teasers to promote the “desperate Afghans are grieving” segment. The salty language used to describe CNN internal communications and Marquardt A video of him joking. His phone call to Young was “theatrical.”

Friedman suggested that a conspiracy was brewing after seven different CNN employees described Young’s past contract as “black market” work, describing the term as “unregulated” rather than illegal.

“Don’t let CNN rewrite the English language to avoid accountability in this case,” Friedman said.

Friedman also argued that CNN’s internal quotes from the start of the report, citing “exploitation” and “fraud,” made it clear from the start that the network was investigating Young for wrongdoing.

“You have a tool to save the American media. It’s called punitive damages. Use it,” Friedman said.

“Use your common sense. What was he hiding? CNN had the facts,” he told jurors.

CNN defamation trial: Network apologizes for report, says editor was right to call ‘black market’

CNN General Counsel David Axelrod, who shares his name with the network’s on-air analyst, delivered the defense’s closing arguments. He began by instructing jurors to use “common sense” to look at the evidence and “do the right thing.”

Axelrod warned that he would repeatedly use the word “common sense” during his comments.

“Are you seeing a conspiracy, or are you seeing people trying to do their best?” Axelrod asked.

They told them that their job was not to “deliver a message” to the media, but to use their brains to determine what actually happened. Axelrod called CNN’s reporting “tough but fair” and suggested Young “put himself” in the story with LinkedIn messages appearing in Afghanistan.

Young pointed out that he suffered no actual injuries, and told jurors that there were no witnesses who said they did not hire him because of the CNN report. Axelrod told jurors that Jill Kornetsky, an activist, referred CNN reporters to Young because he was on LinkedIn offering the service and she “saw it as a mistake.”

Axelrod said he didn’t suspect Marquardt had tried to call him earlier in the trial, pointing to CNN’s strong investigative tools and rejecting the idea that two hours wasn’t enough time to respond to Young. CNN’s side of the story before airing the report, and that the story wasn’t just focused on the young man and used his own words and messages.

“He didn’t want the story to come out,” Axelrod said.

Axelrod added: “It’s not that CNN has lost its name. “If this is trying to hurt Mr. Yang because he hates him, why add his own words?”

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Axelrod’s definition of black market doesn’t change because the words “in context” were used to describe the situation in Afghanistan in a “correct” way.

Axelrod said there were more people watching the on-air apology than the original report, which prevented the report from airing more on CNN than the apology. He also fired employees who disagreed with the pardon, saying that if Young never filed a lawsuit, the pardon would be the final word on the matter.

CNN’s lawyer also cited the network’s journalistic ethics, accusing Young of misleading doctors by saying he was in Afghanistan for a more rigorous examination of his mental health.

“At the end of the day you have to look at all the evidence and see if it makes sense…use your common sense,” Axelrod said.

“Defamation is called defamation because it hurts people,” he added. “There are no witnesses to support this. Not one.”

Axelrod suggested that Young may have deleted LinkedIn messages in which he discussed money with the Afghans, reminding jurors that the plaintiffs called mostly paid expert witnesses and no Austrian doctors, since Young currently lives in Austria. CNN said it was “not negligent,” saying that the publication did not imply that Young was taking money directly from Afghanistan and that no one other than Young himself viewed the story.

Axelrod told jurors to “use common sense,” adding that convictions are “not guarantees.”

The ongoing trial may be streamed live. over here.

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