CNN Vice President Questions Impact of Zachary Young Story

2 hours ago 4

A CNN senior vice president questioned whether a segment featuring Zachary Young was the cause of several allegations made in the defamation trial.

Adam Levine, CNN's senior vice president of news and executive editorial director, pushed back on Young's claim that the story made him lose business.

"I question whether these were already things that happened before the CNN story," Levine said. "His business had already basically disappeared."

Why It Matters

Trust in legacy media organizations has declined in the United States in recent years. In April 2023, Fox News settled a lawsuit for $787 million after broadcasting false claims that voting machines were rigged in the 2020 presidential election.

Media organizations are closely watching the CNN case to determine the limits of the First Amendment's freedom of speech protections.

What To Know

Young is accusing CNN of defamation and libel.

Who is Zachary Young?

Young is a U.S. Navy veteran who helped evacuate Afghan citizens during the U.S. military's withdrawal from the nation. He was featured in a segment on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper on November 11, 2021.

Levine said Young's evacuation service had "a flurry of activity" in September but had stopped the next month.

"Your own financial expert came up and said he hadn't had any prospect of anything new beyond that," Levine said.

Levine also mentioned that Young told two doctors that he had a "traumatic experience" related to Afghanistan.

"There's a traumatic experience there that had nothing to do with our story," Levine said.

He said he thought a correction on the story was not needed, but he supported the legal team's decision.

"I think you've heard that people don't think that what they did misrepresented anything editorially and they don't agree with our legal department," Levine said.

What does the lawsuit against CNN claim?

In the lawsuit, Young alleged CNN "maliciously destroyed Young's hard-earned reputation and his livelihood" by publishing the segment. He said it rendered him "permanently unemployable."

Devin Freedman, a lawyer representing Young, asked Levine if Young deserved the apology he received from CNN.

"From his perspective and what he felt, I think that apology was apt. Editorially, no," Levine said.

Levine also answered some juror questions, including one asking whether an organization that issues a "disingenuous apology" is discredited by that.

"I don't think it's disingenuous in that our lawyers felt that there was an apology to be made for any misconceptions about aligning that banner with Mr. Young," he said.

A banner that ran throughout the story featured the term "black market." In the lawsuit, Young said he operated legally and never profited from Afghans.

Who is attorney David Axelrod?

Axelrod is an attorney representing CNN in the defamation lawsuit. He is a partner at Ballard Spahr who specializes in defending parties sued for defamation.

What People Are Saying

Levine, while answering a juror question: "Editorially, though, I felt we were on solid ground. I felt like that story was legit, the banner was legit. I get that it ran at the same time that Mr. Young was on camera, but it wasn't written that way. It wasn't written to refer to him."

Nik Starow, a legal commentator with over 30 years of experience in labor law, on X: "This is mass media theater, disguised as news.

"For them it was just another day, for Zachary Young, it was his life, his career.

"And CNN ruined it. For a 4 minute segment."

Cathy Russon, managing editor of Law&Crime, highlighted the judge's attitude on X, saying, "The judge is NOT HAPPY. "I'm tired of these blatant misrepresentations that are being made and they are being made by both of you.." followed by another post quoting the judge and saying, "'This isn't Kindergarten.' Judge is chewing out the parties. 'Right now your credibility with me, Mr. Alexrod, is about none.'"