Earlier this week, NewsBusters was the first to report that the defamation suit against CNN could cost the network upwards of $1 billion. The possible cumulative damages were able to be that high because a Florida appeals court affirmed that plaintiff, security contractor, and Navy veteran Zachary Young was able to prove malice on behalf of CNN. And what few have seen, was the video from inside the oral arguments leading up to that ruling where two judges grilled CNN’s lawyer on their use of the term “black market” and if the network’s oversight board owned dictionaries.
At the top of his statement in oral argument, CNN’s counsel Charles D. Tobin seemingly tried to suggest that CNN’s negative attitude toward Young was warranted because he wouldn’t answer their questions regarding his efforts to get corporately sponsored Afghans out of the…
