CNN defamation trial: Expected to lose case but still hurt network, insider says

A CNN employee losing a high-profile defamation case this week might be expected at the network, but that didn’t stop him from leaving a mark.

“Being responsible for defamation and defamation is a bad thing,” the employee said in a message to Fox News Digital.

Marine Corps veteran Zachary Young has accused CNN of illegally profiting from helping people flee Afghanistan on the black market. The Biden administration In the year Military withdrawal from the country by 2021. On November 11, 2021, Young believed he had “destroyed his name and his business” by calling him an illegal profiteer who abused “desperate Afghans,” first reported by CNN’s “Jake Tapper’s front.”

After more than two weeks of a chaotic trial in Florida, a jury ordered Young to pay $4 million in lost earnings and $1 million personally, as well as punitive damages against CNN. Before the jury reached a decision on the final amount, CNN and Young reached an agreement.

When a jury found CNN defamed against a Marine, it awarded punitive damages.

Afterward, Young said he felt “vindicated.”

“It’s been three years now, and it’s an amazing feeling to publicly confirm the results we want, and I’m glad it’s over, and we don’t have to spend years and more time arguing about the meaning of a single word,” Young said. Fox News Digital on friday.

Although there was little coverage in the press at the beginning, as the trial progressed, the case attracted more attention from the main offices, and the judgment given on Friday was widely discussed.

Young’s legal team has obtained internal CNN messages showing employees expressing their hatred for the Navy veteran.

One of those who appeared before the jury called him a “s–tbag” and an “a–hole” while another said he had a “sweet face”. It has been revealed Alex Marquardt.The CNN reporter who led the on-air report told his colleague, Zachary Young, MF—er, who was frequently mentioned in the case, that we were going to arrest him, and the report said, “It will be your funeral.” bucko,” Young said in an exchange with a colleague.

A CNN spokeswoman said the network would take “important lessons” from the incident.

Plaintiff celebrates ‘revenge’ following courtroom drama in CNN defamation trial: ‘Glad it’s over’

“We are proud of our journalists and are 100% committed to producing strong, fearless and fair-minded reporting at CNN, though of course we will take the most important lessons we can from this,” CNN said in a statement after the deal.

A CNN employee told Fox News Digital that they did not think the issues raised in CNN journalism with this story reflected cultural issues at the company.

“The messages were bad … but I don’t think it was a network-wide cultural thing,” they said. “He seemed to me to be an overzealous reporter — one who believed something to be true and framed it in that context… found data to support that and didn’t look at their own conclusions.”

He added that it comes at a time when morale at the network is low, it’s struggling with low ratings and reports of pending layoffs, and it doesn’t seem like there is “backing” of the flagship from within.

A spokesperson called CNN’s financial health reports “very healthy” and a Report Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery was investing more than $70 million in its digital footprint.

Another CNN insider told Fox News Digital that the private messages revealed in the discovery were “disgraceful.”

CNN defamation trial: Editor on the witness stand who says story is ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese’

Elsewhere during the trial, CNN’s senior national security editor, Thomas Lumley, came under fire after internal messages showed he was deeply skeptical of the “grossly flawed” report. Lumley was called as a witness after he felt the internal messages report was “full of holes like Swiss cheese”.

Katie Bo Lillis, another reporter involved in the story, did not think about how much the episode could affect a young person. The plaintiff said it damaged his reputation and had a significant impact on his personal life, leaving him depressed.

Several CNN insiders testified that they disagreed with the network’s decision to apologize in 2022, citing Young’s surgery.

“CNN reporters’ tragic actions on the witness stand … boost Young and CNN’s influence” The Washington Post Eric Wemple wrote. “They stumbled on questions; they failed to defend key wording choices; and in some cases, as in the case of Lillis, they appeared clueless about the influence of their own massive network that reached more than 70 million households in the United States.”

“It’s a shame that CNN has so many editorial staff that they can’t do basic journalistic work or overcome the obvious problem between overpaid, arrogant TV star reporters and cowardly producers,” said a former CNN associate who works in the industry.

CNN’s media division has given scant coverage of the issue. Media journalist Hadas Work He published something short About the verdict and the main media analyst, Brian Stater, spoke briefly about the results in the newspaper Reliable Sources on Friday, in addition to the one where the trial began on January 6. In the search for Grabien, CNN did not provide coverage. Indictment or jury decision in the air.

After the lawsuit ended, Young told Fox News Digital he had no animosity toward the network, but hoped CNN and other media organizations would learn from the experience.

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“I hope they take this as an opportunity to look in the mirror and realize that there is room for change and improvement, and if this is the result on CNN, maybe others in the media will see that. That’s a positive thing,” he said.