A jury in Florida on Friday found CNN liable for defaming a private security contractor in a five-minute segment that ran on the network in November 2021.
The jury ordered the company to pay at least $5 million in damages, plus any potential punitive damages that have yet to be determined.
News organizations are facing an increasingly adverse legal and political environment. There are robust First Amendment protections for journalists, and plaintiffs in defamation cases must prove that a news outlet published false information despite knowing the information was wrong.
But public opinion has turned sharply against news organizations, just as financial constraints on the industry’s business model have made it tougher to fend off suits. ABC News surprised industry observers last month when it agreed to pay $15 million to settle a defamation claim brought by President-elect Donald J. Trump.
The decision in the CNN case came after a two-week trial in a Panama City, Fla., courtroom, where lawyers for the contractor, Zachary Young, argued that the network had falsely accused him of illegally participating in a “black market” for exfiltration services in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of American forces.
The segment, narrated by the correspondent Alexander Marquardt, focused on contractors who, the network said, were charging exorbitant fees to evacuate Afghans.
Mr. Young, a Navy veteran, was the only contractor featured by name in the segment, which he said ruined his reputation and harmed his business. Mr. Young said that he provided his services to major corporations seeking to aid employees in Afghanistan, and that his prices were fair.
A CNN spokeswoman on Friday said that the company would wait to comment until after the jury orders the network to pay any potential punitive damages, which could happen as soon as Friday. CNN can appeal the verdict and any damages awarded.
Mr. Young filed his lawsuit in 2022. Internal CNN communications, revealed as part of litigation, showed Mr. Marquardt deriding Mr. Young to his CNN colleagues. The messages also showed some CNN staff members calling the report “flawed.”
CNN argued that its report, which aired during an episode of “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” did not assert anything false about Mr. Young. In 2022, the network removed the segment from its website and said it regretted the use of the term “black market,” arguing that the phrase was intended to refer to unregulated activities, not unlawful ones.
Lawyers for the network said that its journalists had taken good-faith efforts to ensure an accurate report, and that they were seeking to bring attention to the plight of Afghans attempting to flee a chaotic and violent situation.
The location of the trial, in a Florida county where Mr. Trump won roughly three-quarters of the vote in 2024, was perceived as a disadvantage for CNN, whose coverage has been vilified by Mr. Trump and his supporters. Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against ABC, which was ultimately settled, was also filed in Florida.
