MEDIA WINNER: Eriq Gardner Puck’s Eriq Gardner obtained the transcript of Anderson Cooper’s deposition in a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit filed against CNN, and discovered a number of interesting revelations about the behind-the-scenes operations of the cable news network. “I got my hands on Cooper’s sealed deposition, a transcript stretching several hundred pages that provides details about CNN’s newsgathering policies and its star anchor’s sensitivities,” wrote Gardner. The deposition was supposed to be filed under seal, but due to an error by the clerk of court, it was filed in the publicly-accessible court docket. The deposition was taken for a lawsuit filed in 2016 against CNN for a report on infant deaths at St. Mary’s Medical Center after pediatric heart procedures. Gardner summed up the CNN report, which Cooper covered during his evening television program, as presenting “an eye-catching statistic that Black alleges is deeply flawed and dishonest." According to Gardner's report, the suit claims “experts had repeatedly warned CNN that its methodology effectively cherry-picked data by focusing only on the highest-risk procedures, and that CNN ignored these warnings." As Gardner noted, “CNN, just like Fox News in its showdown against Dominion, will have to consult its insurers and take a measure of the state of play as the trial nears.” Props to Gardner on landing a deposition scoop about CNN as much of the media has prioritized Dominion’s lawsuit against Fox News. |