
Navy veteran suing Associated Press over Afghanistan story says 'smuggling' language implied criminal conduct
Fox News
"Smuggling" could be the new "black market" in Bay County, Florida, if U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young’s defamation lawsuit against the Associated Press goes to trial.
When covering the trial in January, AP media reporter David Bauder wrote that "Young’s business helped smuggle people out of Afghanistan." Young is now seeking punitive damages in a defamation lawsuit against the AP for "an article that went even further than CNN’s falsehoods," and on Saturday updated the complaint to include 40 Associated Press articles that use the term "smuggling" to describe criminal conduct. Brian Flood is a media editor/reporter for FOX News Digital. Story tips can be sent to brian.flood@fox.com and on Twitter: @briansflood.
Young’s counsel, Daniel Lustig from Pike & Lustig, submitted examples of the AP using the terms "smuggling," "smugglers" and "smuggle" when referring to illegal behavior, often related to deadly human trafficking.