Explainer: What To Know About CNN’s Defamation Case and Verdict

  Rassegna Stampa, Social
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Marquardt, Tapper, and senior CNN executives took the stand during the two-week trial, providing a window into its rarely-seen newsgathering process courtesy of e-mails and internal messaging systems. In one of Marquardt’s messages presented during the trial, the reporter wrote that he was “going to nail that Zachary Young mf-er.”

When Young took the stand, he said that he became despondent after the CNN story aired. “I became an outcast, and that’s what I felt like,” he remarked at one point. “And to a large degree, I still do.”

In his closing argument, Axelrod advised jurors to use common sense when examining the case. “[There is] simply no evidence in front of you for you to find that CNN defamed Mr. Young,” he argued.

Freedman, meanwhile, used his closing argument to insinuate that CNN was more interested in theatrics than truth-telling. He urged the jury to “fix” what is wrong with the news today, saying: “You have the ability to send the message. Please do it.”

What was the verdict?

The jury ultimately found CNN liable, with Young set to receive $5 million for pain and suffering, lost business opportunities, and additional punitive damages. But CNN reached a settlement with him for an undisclosed amount soon after the verdict was announced.

“We remain proud of our journalists and are 100% committed to strong, fearless, and fair-minded reporting at CNN,” a CNN spokesperson told TVNewser after the settlement. “Though we will, of course, take what useful lessons we can from this case.”

What happens next? 

CNN isn’t the only network with a defamation lawsuit on the docket in 2025. CBS News is mulling a settlement for its own defamation case brought by President Donald Trump over the network’s interview with his Democratic rival in the election, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount Global, CBS News’ parent company, is currently seeking regulatory approval for its impending merger with Skydance Media.

And the second Trump administration may lead to more defamation cases against news outlets, although the president has noted that he is still open to working with the press. “I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension,” Trump said during a Fox News interview on Nov. 24.

“I am always looking to give a second or even a third chance,” Trump added. “But never willing to give a fourth chance. That is where I hold the line.”

How Trump intends to hold that line is what the press is unsure about going forward.

One additional revelation from the just-concluded trial is the state of CNN’s balance sheet. The network’s net income was cut in half from $600 million to $300 million between 2021 and 2022, an eyebrow-raising decline that was possibly tied to the closures of CNN+ and HLN. CNN’s profits rebounded to over $400 million in 2023.

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