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Netflix on Trial & CNN’s Financial Colonoscopy

Republican-appointed judges are greenlighting a surge of defamation cases against the likes of CNN, Netflix, ABC News, and Media Matters, revealing everything from private communications to the most sensitive internal documents.

Mark Thompson
The courtroom drama for CNN is symptomatic of a broader surge of defamation lawsuits and of media companies encountering increased judicial hostility in Republican strongholds. Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Eriq Gardner
September 11, 2024

A few days ago, in the midst of an otherwise low-profile defamation case, a Florida judge sent a jolt through CNN’s executives offices when he ordered the news network to cough up a mountain of sensitive financial records—balance sheets, credit lines, internal valuations for a potential sale, you name it. At a hearing to discuss the matter, Charles Tobin, CNN’s lawyer, visibly bristled at the ruling. “This is pretty expansive,” he grimaced, processing an October 11 deadline to comply with Panama City Judge William Scott Henry’s sweeping directive. “This upends our plans internally,” he lamented.