After 8 days of testimony and another 8 hours of deliberation, a local jury came back with their decision in a high-profile media lawsuit. “Do you find by the greater weight of the evidence that defendant CNN committed defamation per se against plaintiff Zachary Young?

Lawyers on both sides delivered impassioned closing arguments on Thursday as Zachary Young’s high-profile defamation lawsuit against CNN heads to the jury.

CNN will have to fork over at least $5 million to a U.S. Navy veteran after it lost a defamation trial in Florida on Friday. A Panama City, Florida, jury ruled that CNN had defamed security contractor Zachary Young when it aired a 2021 report that said he was part of a “black market” that price-gouged those attempting to flee Afghanistan after the U.