Zachary Young already deserved this country's gratitude. He's a Navy veteran. He helped rescue people from Afghanistan after the Biden administration left them to die at the hands of the Taliban. And now he's responsible for something even more heroic: exposing CNN’s pathetic editorial process and publicly humiliating the network, but we repeat ourselves.
Young won a high-profile defamation case against the network earlier this year over a November 2021 report that aired on The Lead with Jake Tapper. It portrayed Young as an "illegal profiteer" running a "black market" scheme to evacuate people from Afghanistan. Young testified that the allegation destroyed his contracting business, while CNN characterized it as fearless and fair-minded reporting. A Florida jury concluded it was defamatory garbage.
Young received a $5 million payout for economic and emotional damages, plus a confidential punitive payout that CNN really doesn't want to talk about. The Washington Free Beacon covered the proceedings from inside the courtroom, where CNN reporters like Alex Marquardt came off as entitled pricks more interested in chasing Emmys than telling the truth.
"I don't feel the need to apologize to him," Marquardt said from the stand. "I've won a few Emmy awards. That's kind of the main award in television news." No sh—, you pretentious douche canoe.
The jury responded accordingly, and so did CNN, firing Marquardt after the trial's conclusion. That's not to say you should feel bad for him—his family literally owns a 400-year-old estate in Mallorca.
Some vets have trouble finding their purpose when they leave the armed forces. Not Young, who left Panama City with his reputation restored, millions in his pocket, and Marquardt’s scalp.
For holding the news media accountable, Zachary Young now also has something else: He is a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.