As NewsBusters was first to report, on Friday, Navy veteran Zachary Young had filed a lawsuit against The Associated Press for defamation after they falsely described his Afghanistan evacuation efforts as “human smuggling,” a term the AP Stylebook said was reserved for illegal activity. Over the weekend, U.S. News and World Report retracted their republication of the offending AP article, upon Young’s request.
Under a headline that still read “Florida Jury Says CNN Defamed Navy Veteran in Story About Endangered Afghans,” the news organization tried to distance themselves from the AP while explaining what happened in the CNN trial:
U.S. News & World Report has removed the article previously available at this URL that had been published on January 17, 2025, entitled “Florida Jury Says CNN Defamed Navy Veteran in Story About Endangered…
