NEW YORK: At a particularly inopportune time for legacy media and CNN, the news outlet is on trial in Florida this week, accused of defaming a Navy veteran involved in rescuing endangered Afghans from that country when the US ended its involvement there in 2021.
The veteran, Zachary Young, blames CNN for destroying his business when it displayed his face onscreen during a story that discussed a “black market” in smuggling out Afghans for high fees at the time of the Taliban takeover.
In a broader sense, the case puts the news media on the stand in journalism critic Donald Trump’s home state weeks before he’s due to begin his second term as president, and on the same day Facebook’s parent introduced a Trump-friendly policy of backing off fact checks. Young’s attorney, Kyle Roche, leaned into the press’ unpopularity in his opening arguments on Tuesday.
“You’re going to have an opportunity to do something significant in this trial,” Roche told jurors in Florida’s 14th Judicial Circuit Courts in Panama City on Tuesday. “You’re going to have an opportunity to send a message to mainstream media. You’re going to have an opportunity to change an industry.”
That’s the fear. Said Jane Kirtley, director of the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and the Law at the University of Minnesota: “Everybody in the news media is on trial in this case.”
Actual defamation trials are rare in this country
Defamation trials are actually rare in the United States, in part because strong constitutional protections for the press make proving libel difficult. From the media’s standpoint, taking a case to a judge or jury is a risk many executives don’t want to take.
Rather than defend statements that George Stephanopoulos made about Trump last spring, ABC News last month agreed to make the former president’s libel lawsuit go away by paying him $15 million toward his presidential library. In the end, ABC parent Walt Disney Co. concluded an ongoing fight against Trump wasn’t worth it, win or lose.
In the most high-profile libel case in recent years, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million on the day the trial was due to start in 2023 to settle the company’s claims of inaccurate reporting in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.
The Young case concerns a segment that first aired on Jake Tapper’s program on Nov. 11, 2021, about extraction efforts in Afghanistan. Young had built a business helping such efforts, and advertised his services on LinkedIn to sponsors with funding who could pay for such evacuation.
He subsequently helped four separate organizations — Audible, Bloomberg, a charity called H.E.R.O. Inc. and a Berlin-based NGO called CivilFleet Support eV — get more than a dozen people out of Afghanistan, according to court papers. He said he did not market to — or take money from — individual Afghans.
Yet Young’s picture was shown as part of CNN story that talked about a “black market” where Afghans were charged $10,000 or more to get family members out of danger.
The plaintiff says the story’s reference to ‘black market’ damaged him
To Young, the “black market” label implied some sort of criminality, and he did nothing illegal. “It’s devastating if you’re labeled a criminal all over the world,” Young testified on Tuesday.
CNN said in court papers that Young’s case amounts to “defamation by implication,” and that he hadn’t actually been accused of nefarious acts. The initial story he complained about didn’t even mention Young until three minutes in, CNN lawyer David Axelrod argued on Tuesday.
Five months after the story aired, Young complained about it, and CNN issued an on-air statement that its use of the phrase “black market” was wrong. “We did not intend to suggest that Mr. Young participated in a black market. We regret the error. And to Mr. Young, we apologize.”
That didn’t prevent a defamation lawsuit, and the presiding judge, William S. Henry, denied CNN’s request that it be dismissed. CNN, in a statement, said that “when all the facts come to light, we are confident we will have a verdict in our favor.”
Axelrod argued on Tuesday that CNN’s reporting was tough, fair and accurate. He told the jury that they will hear no witnesses who will say they thought less of Young or wouldn’t hire him because of the story — in other words, no one to back up his contention that it was so damaging to his business and life.
Yet much like Fox was publicly hurt in the Dominion case by internal communications about Trump and the network’s coverage, some unflattering revelations about CNN’s operations will likely become part of the trial. They include internal messages where CNN’s reporter, Alex Marquardt, says unflattering and profane things about Young. A CNN editor was also revealed on messages to suggest that a Marquardt story on the topic was “full of holes,” Roche said.
“At the end of the day, there was no one at CNN who was willing to stand up for the truth,” Roche said. “Theater prevailed.”
Axelrod, who shares a name with a longtime Democratic political operative and CNN commentator, contended that the give and take was part of a rigorous journalistic process putting the video segment and subsequent printed stories together. “Many experienced journalists put eyes on these stories,” he said.
It’s still going to be difficult for CNN to go through. The network, with television ratings at historic lows, doesn’t need the trouble.
“At a moment of wider vilification and disparagement of the press, there is every reason to believe this will be weaponized, even if CNN prevails,” said RonNell Andersen Jones, a professor at the University of Utah law school and expert on libel law.
The case is putting a media organization and its key players on the stand in a very public way, which is something people don’t usually see.
“I always dread any kind of libel cases because the likelihood that something bad will come out of it is very high,” Minnesota’s Kirtley said. “This is not a great time to be a libel defendant if you’re in the news media. If we ever did have the support of the public, it has seriously eroded over the past few years.”
CNN defamation trial comes at a rough time for legacy media — and for the struggling network
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CNN defamation trial comes at a rough time for legacy media — and for the struggling network
- US Navy veteran Zachary Young blames CNN for destroying his business when it displayed his face onscreen during a story that discussed a “black market” in smuggling out Afghans for high fees at the time of the Taliban takeover
Turkiye detains 37 over ‘provocative’ social media posts following arrest of Istanbul mayor
- Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared provocative posts inciting public hatred or crime
- Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate
ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities detained 37 people for sharing “provocative” content on social media, the interior minister said Thursday, pressing ahead with a crackdown on dissenting voices that escalated with the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, a potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested after a dawn raid on his residence on Wednesday as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. Several other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.
The detention of a popular opposition leader and key Erdogan rival deepened concerns over democracy and sparked protests in Istanbul and elsewhere, despite a four-day ban on demonstrations in the city and road closures. On Thursday, hundreds of university students held a peaceful march in Istanbul to protest the detentions.
It also caused a shockwave in the financial market, triggering temporary halts in trading to prevent panic selling.
Critics see the crackdown as an effort by Erdogan to extend his more then two-decade rule following significant losses by the ruling party in local elections last year. Government officials reject claims that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that the courts operate independently.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said authorities identified 261 social media accounts that shared provocative posts inciting public hatred or crime, including 62 that are run by people based abroad. At least 37 of the suspected owners were detained and efforts to detain other suspects were continuing, he wrote on the X social media platform.
Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary scheduled for Sunday. The party’s leader has said the primary will go ahead as planned.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed concern over the mayor’s detention, saying it was a “very, very bad sign” for Turkiye’s relations with the European Union.
Scholz said it was “depressing for democracy in Turkiye, but certainly also depressing for the relationship between Europe and Turkiye.”
“We can only call for this to end immediately and for opposition and government to stand in competition with each other, and not the opposition being brought to court,” he said.
Prosecutors accused Imamoglu of exploiting his position for financial gain, including the improper allocation of government contracts.
In a separate investigation, prosecutors also accuse Imamoglu of aiding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, by allegedly forming an alliance with Kurdish groups for the Istanbul municipal elections. The PKK, behind a decades-long insurgency in Turkiye, is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and other allies.
It was not clear when authorities would begin questioning the mayor, who can be detained without charges for up to four days. Analysts say Imamoglu could be removed from office and replaced by a “trustee mayor” if he is formally charged with links to the PKK.
Before his detention, Imamoglu already faced multiple criminal cases that could result in prison sentences and a political ban. He is also appealing a 2022 conviction for insulting members of Turkiye’s Supreme Electoral Council, a case that could result in a political ban.
This week, a university nullified his diploma, citing alleged irregularities in his 1990 transfer from a private university in northern Cyprus to its business faculty, a decision Imamoglu said he would challenge. The decision effectively bars him from running for president, since the position requires candidates to be university graduates.
Imamoglu was elected mayor of Turkiye’s largest city in March 2019, a historic blow to Erdogan and the president’s Justice and Development Party, which had controlled Istanbul for a quarter-century. Erdogan’s party pushed to void the municipal election results in the city of 16 million, alleging irregularities.
The challenge resulted in a repeat of the election a few months later, which Imamoglu also won. The mayor retained his seat following local elections last year, during which his party made significant gains against Erdogan’s governing party.
Florida mayor drops threat to evict cinema for screening ‘No Other Land’
- Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner vowed to evict and halt future grant payments to the non-profit O Cinema following the screening
- Accusations of “one-sided propaganda” and antisemitism by Meiner intensified the debate surrounding pro-Palestinian activism
WASHINGTON: Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner said on Wednesday he dropped his threat to evict an art house cinema from city property for screening Oscar-winning “No Other Land,” a film about the Israeli displacement of a Palestinian community in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The move came after multiple rights advocates and artists in recent days criticized Meiner’s threat and said it would violate free speech.
Meiner said earlier he sought to evict and halt future grant payments to the non-profit O Cinema in South Beach.
City commissioners were scheduled to vote on Wednesday on a resolution introduced by Meiner and made public last week.
In the session, a majority of the seven-member commission said they opposed the resolution, as did dozens of people who gathered.
Meiner said he would introduce another resolution aimed at encouraging O Cinema to show movies highlighting “a fair and balanced viewpoint of the current war” and it would be deferred to a later meeting.
Meiner called the movie “one-sided propaganda” and antisemitic. The film’s co-directors, Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, dismissed antisemitism allegations.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and other rights advocates condemned Meiner’s earlier threat as being against free speech.
Despite winning the Oscar for documentary feature film, “No Other Land” has not been picked up by mainstream US distributors.
The film shows Israeli soldiers tearing down homes and evicting residents to create a military training ground and the encroachment of Jewish settlers on the Palestinian community.
The directors accused Washington of blocking a solution to the decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict whose latest bloodshed involves the ongoing devastating Israeli military assault on Gaza following a deadly October 2023 Hamas attack.
Pope pens letter to the editor while in hospital as Buckingham Palace announces King Charles’ visit
- Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter to the editor from Francis, signed and dated March 14 from Rome’s Gemelli hospital
ROME: Pope Francis said in a letter published Tuesday that his lengthy illness has helped make “more lucid” to him the absurdity of war, as his top deputy rejected any suggestion of resignation and Buckingham Palace announced plans for an upcoming audience with Britain’s King Charles III.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter to the editor from Francis, signed and dated March 14 from Rome’s Gemelli hospital where the 88-year-old pontiff has been treated since Feb. 14 for a complex lung infection and double pneumonia.
In it, Francis renewed his call for diplomacy and international organizations to find a “new vitality and credibility.” And he said that his own illness had also helped make some things clearer to him, including the “absurdity of war.”
“Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills,” he wrote.
Responding to a letter from the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Luciano Fontana, Francis also urged him and all those in the media to “feel the full importance of words.”
“They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends,” he wrote. “We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth.”
The letter was published as Francis registered slight improvements in his treatment and as the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, shot down any suggestion the pope might resign.
“Absolutely no,” Parolin told journalists on Monday when asked if he and the pope had discussed a resignation. Parolin has visited Francis twice during his hospitalization, most recently on March 2, and said he found Francis better than during his first Feb. 25 visit.
Also on Tuesday, Francis received a standing ovation from the Italian Senate, after Premier Giorgia Meloni sent her greetings and said “not just this chamber, but all of the Italian people″ wish the pope a full recovery “as soon as possible.”
Meloni, who was the first outsider to visit the pope after he was hospitalized, said that “even in a trying moment, his strength and guidance have been felt.”
Francis for the second day spent some time off high flows of oxygen and used just ordinary supplemental oxygen delivered by a nasal tube, the Holy See press office said Tuesday. In addition, for the first time in several weeks he didn’t use the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night at all, to force his lungs to work more.
While those amount to “slight improvements,” the Vatican isn’t yet providing any timetable on when he might be released. That said, Buckingham Palace announced Monday that King Charles III was scheduled to meet with Francis on April 8 at the Vatican, assuming he is back and well enough.
Such state visits are always closely organized with Parolin’s office. However, the Vatican press office on Tuesday declined to confirm the visit, noting that the Holy See only confirms papal audiences shortly before they happen.
The developments came as the Vatican released some details on the first photograph of Francis released since his hospitalization. The image, taken Sunday from behind, showed Francis sitting in his wheelchair in his private chapel in prayer without any sign of nasal tubes.
The photo, showing Francis wearing a Lenten purple stole, followed an audio message the pope recorded March 6 in which he thanked people for their prayers, his voice soft and labored.
Together, they suggested Francis is very much controlling how the public follows his illness to prevent it from turning into a spectacle. While many in the Vatican have held up St. John Paul II’s long and public battle with Parkinson’s disease and other ailments as a humble sign of his willingness to show his frailties, others criticized it as excessive and glorifying sickness.
The image certainly reassured some well-wishers who came to Gemelli to pray for Francis, who is recovering in the 10th-floor papal suite reserved for popes.
“After a month of hospitalization, finally a photo that can assure us that his health conditions are better,” said the Rev. Enrico Antonio, a priest from Pescara.
But Benedetta Flagiello of Naples, who was visiting her sister at Gemelli, wondered if the photo was even real.
“Because if the pope can sit for a moment without a mask, without anything, why didn’t he look out the window on the 10th floor to be seen by everyone?” she asked. “If you remember our old pope (John Paul II), he couldn’t speak up, but he showed up.”
Manga Productions looks to attract Japanese investment for Riyadh Season
- New pact inked with entertainment firm Sela
- Promotions to take place at Anime Japan 2025
RIYADH: Manga Productions, a subsidiary of the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation, or Misk, has signed a new strategic partnership with the Saudi Arabia entertainment company Sela.
The partnership aims to strengthen collaboration with renowned Japanese companies and create new opportunities for their participation in Riyadh Season, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday.
Potential collaborations will enable Japanese companies to engage with Saudi Arabia and international audiences through events and experiences in the Kingdom with the facilitation of Manga Productions, the SPA reported.
In 2022, Sela unveiled a 33-meter-tall statue of the anime character Grendizer, which set a Guinness World Record during Riyadh Season of that year.
This year, Manga Productions announced its official sponsorship of Anime Japan 2025, one of the world’s leading events in the creative industry.
During the event from March 22 to 25, the company’s booth will promote investment opportunities, according to the SPA.
Sharjah Media City offers new ‘Mazeed’ service for entrepreneurs
- It provides a wide range of tailored options that simplify set-up and expansion of small and medium-sized businesses, to help foster innovation and creativity
- Strategic partnerships with several business-services companies offer seamless access to essential financial and operational services and tools
SHARJAH: Sharjah Media City, also known as Shams, is offering a new service, called Mazeed, designed to empower entrepreneurs and provide integrated solutions for startups and small and medium-sized enterprises.
The new service offers a wide range of tailored options that simplify the formation or expansion of a business, including financial solutions, digital marketing, legal consultancy and operational services, Shams said, to help foster an environment that promotes innovation and creativity in support of a thriving business ecosystem, it added.
“The launch of Mazeed aligns with Shams’ strategy to support entrepreneurs and enhance entrepreneurship in Sharjah and the UAE by providing practical solutions that simplify business management, reduce operational costs and promote sustainability and growth,” Shams said.
Rashid Abdullah Al-Obad, the director of Shams, said the new service represents a step forward in the enhancement of digital innovation in the business environment.
“Mazeed aims to simplify the journey of entrepreneurs, enabling them to focus on growing their businesses instead of dealing with complex operational procedures,” he added.
“The launch of Mazeed aligns with Sharjah’s vision to support a sustainable economy and foster investment while enhancing the customer experience by offering innovative services that effectively meet the needs of the business sector.”
Shams also said it has formed strategic partnerships with business-services companies Aura, Peko and Qashio to provide small and medium-sized enterprises with seamless access to essential financial and operational services, to help ensure that business owners have the tools they need to optimize operations.
Aura will provide access to flexible financing solutions, including invoice financing for business-to-business transactions and installment payment plans for licensing fees. Such services offer greater financial flexibility, which helps businesses maintain operational stability and drive growth.
Through Peko, businesses can access essential business services such as utility bill payments, mobile bill management, flight and hotel bookings and payroll processing. Peko also offers advice on digital business tools, such as WhatsApp for Business and electronic signatures, that can simplify operations.
Qashio focuses on advanced financial-management solutions, including expense management, virtual bank account creation, and a rewards system using Qashio Points. The partnership also includes a revenue-sharing model.
Shams said Mazeed will continue to form new strategic partnerships in various sectors as part of its strategy to expand the services on offer to entrepreneurs, and more announcements are expected soon.
The aim of such collaborations is to drive business innovation and provide cutting-edge solutions that help support the sustainability and growth of startups in the UAE, it added.
