Things are going from bad to worse at CNN. A Florida jury found CNN liable for defaming Navy veteran Zachary Young and awarded him $5 million, with punitive damages to be determined. This verdict follows other high-stakes media defamation cases against Fox News, which agreed to pay $787 million to Dominion Voting Systems, and ABC, which agreed to give $15 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential library.

Young's lawsuit stemmed from a November 2021 report by CNN's chief national security correspondent, Alex Marquardt, which accused Young of running a black market in Afghanistan. Segments about Marquardt’s report ran on both Jake Tapper and Jim Acosta’s shows, featuring Young’s name and face. Young’s legal team argued that CNN published lies about his business, citing internal communications as evidence.

CNN defended itself by claiming parts of the report were opinion and that they knew little about Young's business. At closing arguments, CNN lead counsel David Axelrod asked jurors whether Young’s team had proved there was a conspiracy or if CNN had been trying to do their best. Meanwhile, Devin Freedman, a lawyer for Young, argued that the defamatory comments had stripped Young of his professional integrity.

The trial will now move to phase two, during which the figure CNN owes in punitive damages will be determined. Young's legal team emphasized the severe impact of the defamatory comments on his career and personal life, arguing that the injuries transcended monetary loss and pierced the soul of who he was.