CNN Reaches Settlement With Covington Catholic Student Nick Sandmann, Ending $275 Million Lawsuit
CNN has reached a settlement agreement with Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann, reports Fox 19. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the student and his family had sued the news company for $275 million after claiming that it had misrepresented Sandmann’s actions while he was on a school trip in Washington, D.C.
Attorneys claimed that part of CNN’s motivation was political, as Sandmann was attending a pro-life march and wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. Meanwhile, CNN denied their coverage was politically based.
“Contrary to its ‘Facts First’ public relations ploy, CNN ignored the facts and put its anti-Trump agenda first in waging a 7-day media campaign of false, vicious attacks against Nicholas, a young boy who was guilty of little more than wearing a souvenir Make America Great Again cap,” attorneys claimed in the lawsuit, which was filed this past May (via The Washington Times).
Sandmann had been waiting with his classmates at the Lincoln Memorial when they were approached by a number of Native Americans participating in the first Indigenous People’s March, led by Nathan Phillips.
Phillips claimed that Sandmann had blocked his path and that the boys shouted racist abuse at the Native Americans. However, a video of the entire incident showed that Phillips approached the boys and there was no purported racist chanting.
In the aftermath of the showdown, CNN conducted an in-depth interview with Mr. Phillips, released four videos, and tweeted out nine articles with alleged false information on the event to its 41 million followers.
Sandmann’s lawyer, L. Lin Wood, blamed the media company for not doing its due diligence on the story. He said that it was unacceptable that reporters consistently reported on the incident for two days without watching full video of the event.
“Maybe do that before you report the lies,” he claimed on Fox News. “CNN was probably more vicious in its direct attacks on Nicholas than The Washington Post. And CNN goes into millions of individuals’ homes.”
“CNN couldn’t resist the idea that here’s a guy with a young boy, that Make America Great Again cap on. So they go after him,” he concluded.
Though this concludes the case against CNN, Sandmann and his team still have several lawsuits against other media companies, including The Washington Post and NBC Universal. The sums sought from the two, in addition to CNN, was around $800 million.
Though lawyers claimed that some of the money was for damages that Sandmann endured in the aftermath of the negative coverage — such as having to change his address because of threats — they added that the high number was mainly sought as a deterrence for media companies in the future.
