May 12, 2008
Today’s Life News, a Yunnan newspaper, reported on its front page about a Yunnan lawyer who has launched a lawsuit against CNN and its commentator Jack Cafferty. This is latest of a string of similar legal actions both in China and abroad.
The lawyer, Wu Kaiguo, filed a lawsuit with the Kunming Intermediate Court demanding a public apology by CNN on the “international mainstream media”, and one yuan in damages. In an interview with the newspaper, the lawyer denied that self-promotion played any part in his motivation.
Beijing Youth Daily today ran an article about a lawyer who sued CNN in the US with similar complaints. He announced that he would drop the lawsuit and end his representation of the plaintiffs on May 10. No reason was given in the article for the lawyer’s withdrawal.
On April 24, the lawyer filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit in Manhattan on behalf of his two clients: a retired Beijing elementary school teacher Li Lilan and a Chinese American beautician Lydia Leung.
In response to the lawsuit, CNN issued an statement on May 6 but people disagree on whether the statement qualifies as an apology.
According to the article, one of the two plaintiffs, Ms. Leung, hadn’t been notified by the lawyer of the withdrawal, but she pledged that she would carry out the lawsuit. A man named Huang Keqiang, who is a leader in the Chinese American community, said he would also join the suit.
Note: The photo of the woman that takes up most of the front page is about a successful sex change operation, headlined “He becomes she”.
- Sohu (Chinese): Yunnan lawyer sued CNN today
- Beijing Youth Daily (Chinese): Lawyer dropped lawsuit against CNN