CNN defamation trial: Several staffers testify against network’s on-air apology ordered by legal department

PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA — Several CNN staffers who testified in the network’s high-profile defamation trial against plaintiff Zachary Young spoke out against the on-air apology the outlet offered to him. 

Young, a U.S. Navy veteran, alleges CNN smeared him in a November 2021 report that first aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” suggesting he illegally profited off desperate people trying to flee Afghanistan following the Biden administration’s military withdrawal, implying he was involved in “black market” dealings and ruining his professional reputation as a result.

CNN aired an apology in March 2022 after Young leveled a legal threat against the network, though he claimed he was unaware at the time that an apology was given. 

“In November, we ran a story about Afghans desperate to flee the country who faced paying high sums beyond the reach of average Afghans. The story included a lead-in and banner throughout the story that referenced a ‘black market.’ The use of the term ‘black market’ in the story was an error. The story included reporting on Zachary Young,” Brown told viewers in March 2022. 

“We did not intend to suggest that Mr. Young participated in the black market,” she continued. “We regret the error, and to Mr. Young, we apologize.”

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Longtime CNN journalist Fuzz Hogan, who served as a senior editor tasked to fact-check the report, said on Friday he didn’t agree that CNN should have apologized, which he repeatedly referred to as a “correction.”

“I didn’t think that the correction was necessary,” Hogan said, later adding he stands by the on-air report and called CNN’s online report “pretty good.” 

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On Monday, CNN correspondent Alex Marquardt, who led the report against Young, similarly expressed he didn’t think CNN needed to apologize but was “fine” that it did. 

He went on to say he thought the term was accurate to describe the chaotic scene in Afghanistan, a sentiment Hogan also expressed in his testimony.

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Three other CNN staffers also shared their opposition to the on-air apology in recorded video depositions that were shown to jurors on Tuesday. 

When asked where he “agreed” with the apology, CNN producer Michael Conte responded “not necessarily.”

“I don’t know necessarily if it was an error that the term ‘black market’ was used,” Conte said, later adding, “I do not believe it was an error.”

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Virginia Moseley, CNN’s executive vice president of editorial, testified that she wasn’t involved in CNN’s on-air apology and when asked whether she agreed with it, she replied “in general, I don’t.”

“The reason I don’t agree with it is I don’t have, as we talked about earlier, the negative connotation of ‘black market,’ So I’m not exactly sure, like I wouldn’t, you know, I don’t consider black market in a negative connotation, so I wouldn’t agree with the correction,” Moseley said. 

CNN supervising producer Michael Callahan told Young’s legal team he defines “black market” as an “unregulated market” and how that term applies to the situation being reported in Afghanistan. 

The only CNN staffer who offered any defense of the on-air apology was Adam Levine, CNN’s senior vice president of Washington newsgathering, who mostly echoed the stance of the network’s “legal department.”

“That was an error based on the fact that Mr. Young felt and [Young’s attorney Vel Freedman] conveyed that that was how it was received by Mr. Young, and they took issue with that. And we felt in order to resolve the legal discussion at hand, a correction was due, or at least our legal department felt that way, I should say,” Levine said. 

Levine acknowledged that the apology was made in hopes for the network to quash the “potential for a lawsuit” by Young, but spent several minutes dodging questions about whether CNN thought Young’s concern was “reasonable” enough to issue the apology.

“This was a decision made for legal reasons, and the correction was issued at the direction of our legal department,” Levine said. “So CNN thinks that the decision by the legal department was the right one for the company based on them being our legal department.”

The trial resumes on Wednesday and will stream live on Fox News Digital.