CNN goes on trial over its report alleging 'black market' for Afghan rescues
Source: NPR
January 5, 2025 8:00 AM ET
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, many people were desperate to flee the country. CNN reported that a security consultant was among those offering to evacuate them — for a price — as part of an investigation into claims of "black market" rescue operations.
CNN's story, which aired on Nov. 11, 2021, showed a photo of Zachary Young, head of Florida-based Nemex Enterprises. The caption below warned of "exorbitant fees" and "no guarantee of safety or success." Chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt told viewers that CNN could not confirm that Young had successfully evacuated anyone who had paid him to leave the country.
Young has sued CNN for defamation. In his complaint, his attorneys say CNN gave him just hours to respond to its questions before it first aired that story on The Lead with Jake Tapper. They say Young had, in fact, successfully evacuated dozens of people from Afghanistan. In rebutting those allegations in court, CNN has since cast doubt on Young's claim of the successful evacuations. Behind the scenes, however, some editors expressed qualms about the reporting, court filings show.
The trial kicks off Monday in the Florida Panhandle, a deeply red part of the country, at a time when public perceptions of the media are increasingly ideologically polarized and the incoming president, Donald Trump, has made political and legal attacks on the press part of his regular repertoire.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/05/nx-s1-5246178/cnn-defamation-trial-afghanistan-black-market-evacuations
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