Defamation Trial: CNN Fact-Checker Admits He Didn't Check Facts First

Posted • January 13, 2025: In addition to CNN’s defamation lawyer smearing a decorated two-star general in open court during Friday’s proceedings, it was the first time someone from CNN was called to testify in the $1 billion defamation trial against the network. Senior editor and fact-checker Fuzz Hogan was on the witness stand where he was belligerent with plaintiff’s counsel, oozed arrogance, defended CNN’s editorial practices, and actually admitted that CNN didn’t try to get in contact with the companies Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young worked for to get their people out of Afghanistan. Hogan, who’s a member of CNN’s internally lauded “Triad” of editorial, legal, and standards & practices oversight personnel, described Young as “a shit" in a private message that two courts and four judges had said looked like "actual malice."

In cross-examination with CNN’s lead counsel David Axelrod (not to be confused with the CNN commentator of the same name), Hogan agreed that he took “pride” in being a “fact-checker” for CNN. “We have a promise to the viewer that we’re going to tell them things that are true,” Hogan proclaimed. But when getting questioned by plaintiffs co-counsel Joe Delich, Hogan admitted that neither he nor anyone at CNN bothered to reach out and ask any of Young’s clients about evacuation efforts, including their fellow news outlet Bloomberg. (…)

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https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/nicholas-fondacaro/2025/01/11/defamation-trial-cnn-fact-checker-admits-he-didnt-check