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Lara Logan

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Lara Logan
photograph
Logan in 2013
Born (1971-03-29) 29 March 1971 (age 53)
Durban, South Africa
EducationDegree in commerce, 1992
Alma materUniversity of Natal, Durban
Occupation(s)Journalist, since 1988
EmployerCBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent (2006–2018)
Spouses
Jason Siemon
​
​
(m. 1998; div. 2008)​
Joseph Burkett
​
(m. 2008)​
Websitelaralogan.com

Lara Logan (born 29 March 1971)[1] is a South African television and radio journalist and war correspondent. She was a correspondent for CBS News between 2002 and 2018.[2] In 2019, she joined the Sinclair Broadcast Group, a conservative media company.[3] In January 2020, she joined Fox Nation, a subscription streaming service run by Fox News.[4] In March 2022, she said she had been "dumped" by the network.[5]

Early life

Logan was born in Durban, South Africa,[6] and attended high school at Durban Girls' College.[7] She graduated from the University of Natal in Durban in 1992 with a degree in commerce. She earned a diploma in French language, culture and history at Alliance Française in Paris.[6]

Career

Logan interviewing General Norton A. Schwartz, April 2009

Logan worked as a news reporter for the Sunday Tribune in Durban during her studies (1988–1989), then for the city's Daily News (1990–1992). In 1992, she joined Reuters Television in Africa, primarily as a senior producer. After four years she branched out into freelance journalism, obtaining assignments as a reporter and editor/producer with ITN and Fox/SKY, CBS News, ABC News (in London), NBC, and the European Broadcasting Union. She worked for CNN, reporting on incidents such as the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Tanzania, the conflict in Northern Ireland, and the Kosovo war.[6]

Logan was hired in 2000 by GMTV Breakfast Television (in the UK) as a correspondent; she also worked with CBS News Radio as a freelance correspondent. Days after the September 11 attacks, she asked a clerk at the Russian Embassy in London to give her a visa to travel to Afghanistan. In November 2001, while in Afghanistan working for GMTV, she infiltrated the American-British-backed Northern Alliance and interviewed their commander, General Babajan, at the Bagram Air Base.[8]

CBS News offered her a full-fledged correspondent position in 2002. She spent much of the next four years reporting from the battlefield, including war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq, often embedded with the United States Armed Forces. But she also interviewed famous figures and explorers such as Robert Ballard, discoverer of the wreck of the RMS Titanic.[9] Many of her reports were for 60 Minutes II. She was also a regular contributor to the CBS Evening News, The Early Show and Face the Nation.[10] In February 2006, Logan was promoted to "Chief foreign affairs correspondent" for CBS News.[6]

Logan left CBS News in August 2018.[2][11] The following year, she joined the Sinclair Broadcast Group on a temporary basis, as a correspondent reporting on the United States-Mexico border.[3]

Haifa Street fighting

Main article: Battle of Haifa Street

In late January 2007, Logan filed a report of fighting along Haifa Street in Baghdad, but the CBS Evening News did not run the report; deeming it "a bit strong".[12][13] To reverse the decision, Logan enlisted public support; requesting them to watch the story and pass the link to as many of their friends and acquaintances as possible, saying, "It should be seen".[13][14]

Criticism of Michael Hastings

Logan was criticized in June 2010 for her remarks about another journalist, Michael Hastings, and her view that reporters who embed with the military ought not to write about the general banter they hear. An article by Hastings in Rolling Stone that month quoted General Stanley A. McChrystal and his staff—comments Hastings overheard while traveling with McChrystal—criticizing then-U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden and other officials, after which President Obama fired McChrystal as his commander in Afghanistan.[15][16] Logan told CNN that Hastings' reporting had violated an unspoken agreement between reporters who travel with military personnel not to report casual comments that pass between them.[17]

Quoting her statement, "I mean, the question is, really, is what General McChrystal and his aides are doing so egregious, that they deserved to end a career like McChrystal's? I mean, Michael Hastings has never served his country the way McChrystal has." CNN's former chief military correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, said that what they did was indeed egregious, and that her comments "unfortunately reinforced the worst stereotype of reporters who 'embed' with senior military officers but are actually 'in bed' with them."[18] He went on to quote Admiral Mike Mullen's statement that military personnel must be neutral and should not criticize civilian leaders.

Glenn Greenwald, commenting on the incident for Salon, wrote that Logan's segment was an example of what journalism had "degenerated into". Greenwald said that Logan had done courageous reporting over the years, but had come to see herself as part of the government and military.[19]

Reporting from Egypt and sexual assault

Logan and her CBS crew were arrested and detained for one night by the Egyptian Army on 3 February 2011, while covering the Egyptian revolution. She said the crew was blindfolded and handcuffed at gunpoint, and their driver beaten. They were advised to leave the country, but were later released.[20][21]

On 15 February 2011, CBS News released a statement that Logan had been beaten and sexually assaulted on 11 February, while covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square following Hosni Mubarak's resignation.[22] CBS 60 Minutes broadcast an interview with her about it on 1 May 2011; she said she was speaking out because of the prevalence of mass sexual assault in Egypt, and to break the silence about the sexual violence women reporters are reluctant to report in case it prevents them from doing their jobs.[23][24][25][26]

She said the incident involved 200 to 300 men and lasted around 25 minutes. She had been reporting the celebrations for an hour without incident when her camera battery failed. One of the Egyptian CBS crew suggested they leave, telling her later he heard the crowd make inappropriate sexual comments about her. She felt hands touching her, and can be heard shouting "stop", just as the camera died. One of the crowd shouted that she was an Israeli, a Jew, a claim that CBS said, though false, was a "match to gasoline". She said that they tore off her clothes and, in her words, raped her with their hands, while taking photographs with their cellphones. They began pulling her body in different directions, pulling her hair so hard she said it seemed they were trying to tear off chunks of her scalp. Believing she was dying, she was dragged along the square to where the crowd was stopped by a fence, alongside which a group of women were camping. One woman wearing a chador put her arms around Logan, and the others closed ranks around her, while some men who were with the women threw water at the crowd. A group of soldiers appeared, beat back the crowd with batons, and one of them threw Logan over his shoulder. She was flown back to the U.S. the next day, where she spent four days in the hospital.[24][25] She was contacted by President Obama when she arrived home.[27] CBS said that the identify of the attackers remained unclear, and that it was unlikely that any would be prosecuted.[24][25]

Comments about Afghanistan and Libya

In October 2012, Logan delivered a speech before the annual luncheon of the Better Government Association in which she sharply criticized the Obama Administration's statements about the War in Afghanistan and other conflicts in the Arab world. In particular, Logan criticized the Obama administration's claims that the Taliban was weakening in Afghanistan, calling such claims "a major lie" made in preparation for ending the U.S. military role in that country. She also stated that she hoped that the United States would "exact revenge" for the 2012 Benghazi attack, in which U.S. diplomatic personnel were attacked and killed in Libya.[28]

Benghazi report errors

On 8 November 2013, Logan went on CBS This Morning to apologize for an inaccurate 60 Minutes report about the Benghazi attack, which had aired on 27 October. She indicated that an investigation uncovered that the source of much of her reporting was inaccurate and blamed it on Dylan Davies, manager of the local guard force at the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi. Logan said he lied about information but insisted they looked into his credibility and relied on such things as photographs and documents he supplied. In hindsight, Logan said they learned that the story told by Davies did not match what he told federal investigators. "You know the most important thing to every person at 60 Minutes is the truth," she said in the on-air apology on the morning show. "And today the truth is we made a mistake. And that's ah ... that's very disappointing for any journalist. That's very disappointing for me." Logan went on to add, "Nobody likes to admit they made a mistake. But if you do, you have to stand up and take responsibility – and you have to say you were wrong. And in this case we were wrong."[29]

On 26 November 2013, Logan was forced to take a leave of absence due to the errors in the Benghazi report.[10][30] Al Ortiz, Executive Director of Standards and Practices for CBS News, wrote in a memo, "Logan made a speech in which she took a strong public position arguing that the U.S. Government was misrepresenting the threat from Al Qaeda, and urging actions that the U.S. should take in response to the Benghazi attack. From a CBS News Standards perspective, there is a conflict in taking a public position on the government’s handling of Benghazi and Al Qaeda, while continuing to report on the story."[31][32]

She subsequently sued New York Magazine for $25M for their reporting on the fallout.[33] The suit was dismissed with prejudice.[34]

Comments on the media

After leaving CBS News, Logan began to criticize the media which she said had a liberal bias.[35][3] She described journalists as "political activists" and "propagandists" against President Donald Trump.[3] She said that making these comments was akin to "professional suicide."[3] Shortly thereafter, she joined the Sinclair Broadcast Group, a right-wing media group.[36][37] Since then, Logan has tweeted right-wing conspiracy theories, such as speculating that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her election to office because of some unspecified plot operated by unknown entities Logan believes control antifa activists.[38]

2020 Fox News series

In 2020, Logan was hired by Fox News to do a series of shows called Lara Logan has No Agenda. The Los Angeles Times observed that "Despite the 'No Agenda' slogan, Logan does plan to wade back into the topic of media bias."[39]

Claims about antifa

On 31 May 2020, Logan tweeted a picture, which she claimed was an antifa riot instruction manual. The picture actually was an updated hoax dating to the 2015 Baltimore riots. On 1 June, Logan tweeted a threat by the @ANTIFA_US Twitter account. The account turned out to be fake and linked to Identity Evropa, a white nationalist organization. After being criticized for posting the hoaxes, Logan claimed that there was a campaign to "destroy" her, including by Media Matters for America.[40]

On 4 June 2020, Logan appeared on Hannity to claim that antifa was leaving "pallets of bricks" at protest sites in an attempt to stoke violence and destruction. Fact-checkers found that claims of bricks being left at protest sites were without foundation. No one else reported seeing antifa trucks leaving pallets of bricks. Next, Logan promoted a 5 June joke tweet which linked antifa to juggalos and a "clown hierarchy". Logan instead focused on the portion of the tweet that mentioned a "traditional command structure" and argued that anarchists thus indeed had organizational structure.[40]

AIDS and COVID-19 conspiracy theories

In November and December 2021, Logan promoted falsehoods and conspiracy theories about AIDS and COVID-19. She shared articles that disputed the scientific consensus that HIV causes AIDS.[41] She compared NIAID director Anthony Fauci to the Nazi Josef Mengele. During a discussion of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, she said: "And so in that moment, what you see on Dr Fauci, this is what people say to me, that he doesn’t represent science to them. He represents Josef Mengele, Dr Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews during the second world war and in the concentration camps, and I am talking about people all across the world are saying this."[42][43]

Several prominent Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Auschwitz Museum, condemned her remarks.[43] Logan subsequently retweeted criticisms of the Auschwitz Museum.[41] During a December 2021 interview with MSNBC, Fauci called Logan's remarks "absolutely preposterous and disgusting", and criticized Fox News for not taking disciplinary action against her.[44] United Talent Agency dropped Logan as a client shortly after her Mengele comment.[45]

Since making her comment, Logan has not appeared as a guest on Fox News, and there have been no new episodes of Lara Logan has No Agenda. In March 2022, Logan said that she had been "dumped" by Fox.[5]

Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Logan in her television appearances linked Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "satanic, occult" practices, called him a "puppet" and claimed that Zelenskyy had been "selected [...], not voted in". She praised Putin for "not going to stand by while the globalists take over the world" and accused Ukrainians of being "actual Nazis". Logan's comments were praised and taken up by Russian government propaganda.[46][47][48][49]

Comments about Darwin and the Rothschild family

In March 2022, Logan claimed without evidence that Charles Darwin was employed by the Rothschild family to create his theory of evolution.[50] She also promoted claims that the Rothschild family, a frequent target of antisemitic conspiracy theories, engineered the American Civil War, and the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.[51]

Personal life

Logan married Jason Siemon, an Iowan playing professional basketball in the U.K.; the marriage ended in divorce.[10] In 2008, she married Joseph Burkett, a U.S. government defense contractor from Texas. It was the second marriage for both.[52][53] The couple live in Washington, D.C., with their two children[54][53] and Burkett's daughter from his previous marriage.[53]

Awards

See also

References

  1. ^ Logan, Lara, entry: Current Biography Yearbook. Vol. 67. H. W. Wilson Company. 2006. p. 344.
  2. ^ a b Steinberg, Brian (19 February 2019). "Lara Logan and CBS News Have Parted Ways". Variety. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e Farhi, Paul (10 April 2019). "Lara Logan, late of CBS, joins Sinclair Broadcasting to cover U.S.-Mexico border". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  4. ^ "A combative Lara Logan plans a comeback on Fox News' streaming service. Can she succeed?". Los Angeles Times. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  5. ^ a b Pengelly, Martin (9 April 2022). "Lara Logan, who compared Fauci to Mengele, says Fox News pushed her out". The Guardian. New York. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  6. ^ a b c d "Lara Logan". CBS News. 2 December 2002.
  7. ^ "Lara Logan". NNDb. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
  8. ^ Steinberg, Jacques (23 November 2005). "War Zone "It Girl" Has a Big Future at CBS News". The New York Times.
  9. ^ "Bob Ballard, The Great Explorer". CBS, 60 Minutes. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  10. ^ a b c Joe Hagan (4 May 2014). "Benghazi and the Bombshell. Is Lara Logan too toxic to return to 60 Minutes?". New York magazine.
  11. ^ "Back in the Spotlight, Lara Logan Wants to Keep Reporting: "I'm Not Done Yet"". The Hollywood Reporter. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  12. ^ Logan, Lara (18 January 2007). "Battle for Haifa Street". CBS News. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
  13. ^ a b "Helping Lara Logan". Mediachannel.org. Archived from the original on 21 May 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2007.
  14. ^ David, Bauder (1 February 2007). "CBS Correspondent Makes Plea for Airtime". Casper Star Tribune. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2007.
  15. ^ Hastings, Michael (22 June 2010). "The Runaway General". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 24 June 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  16. ^ Cooper, Helene; Sanger, David E. (23 June 2010). "Obama Says Afghan Policy Won't Change After Dismissal". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  17. ^ Kurtz, Howard (27 June 2010). "Interview With Michael Hastings; Interview With Lara Logan". CNN.
  18. ^ McIntyre, Jamie (30 June 2010). "Lara Logan's Friendly Misfire". Line of Departure. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012.
  19. ^ Greenwald, Glen (28 June 2010). "The two poles of journalism". Salon.
  20. ^ Kamer, Foster (11 February 2011). "Lara Logan's Egypt Interrogation Tell-All". Esquire.
  21. ^ "TIME Exclusive: CBS's Lara Logan and Crew Detained in Cairo As Violence Escalates". Time. 3 February 2011.
  22. ^ Stelter, Brian (15 February 2011). "CBS Says Lara Logan Suffered 'Brutal' Attack in Cairo". The New York Times.
  23. ^ "Lara Logan breaks her silence. Sixty Minutes, CBS". YouTube. 1 May 2011. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  24. ^ a b c "Lara Logan breaks her silence". 60 Minutes, CBS, 1 May 2011. transcript.
  25. ^ a b c "After the assault: Lara Logan comes home". 60 Minutes, CBS, 1 May 2011, additional footage from the same interview.
  26. ^ Stelter, Brian (28 April 2011). "CBS Reporter Recounts a 'Merciless' Assault". The New York Times.
  27. ^ "Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests". CBS News. 15 February 2011.
  28. ^ "CBS News and reporter Lara Logan face brutal criticism on flawed Benghazi report". Washington Post. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  29. ^ Guthrie, Marisa (8 November 2013). "Lara Logan Apologizes For '60 Minutes' Benghazi Report on 'CBS This Morning". The Hollywood Reporter.
  30. ^ Carter, Bill (26 November 2013). "'Leave of Absence' for Lara Logan After Flawed Benghazi Report". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  31. ^ Calderone, Michael (27 November 2013). "CBS News' Lara Logan Taking Leave of Absence Over Discredited '60 Minutes' Benghazi Report". HuffPost. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  32. ^ "CBS asks Lara Logan to take leave after flawed Benghazi report". CBS News. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  33. ^ Press, The Associated (19 December 2019). "Ex-'60 Minutes' reporter Lara Logan sues New York magazine over Benghazi retraction". syracuse. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  34. ^ "Docket for Logan v. Hagan, 1:19-cv-01208 - CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  35. ^ "Former CBS News correspondent Lara Logan adds to Sinclair Broadcasting's national ambitions". NBC News. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  36. ^ "Former CBS News Reporter Lara Logan Joining Sinclair". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  37. ^ Grove, Lloyd (10 April 2019). "Lara Logan Returns to TV as a Right-Wing Heroine at Sinclair, Condemning 'Moral Cowards' at CBS". Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  38. ^ Baragona, Justin (11 June 2020). "Lara Logan, the Fox 'Investigative Journalist' Who Keeps Falling for Antifa Hoaxes". Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  39. ^ "Combative Lara Logan gets ready for a comeback on Fox News streaming service". Los Angeles Times. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  40. ^ a b Baragona, Justin; Sommer, Will (11 June 2020). "Lara Logan, the Fox 'Investigative Journalist' Who Keeps Falling for Antifa Hoaxes". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  41. ^ a b "Fox Host Lara Logan Retweets Defense of Fauci Comparison to Nazi Doctor Mengele". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
  42. ^ Pengelly, Martin (30 November 2021). "Outrage as Fox News commentator likens Anthony Fauci to Nazi doctor". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  43. ^ a b Darcy, Oliver (30 November 2021). "Anti-Defamation League and Auschwitz Museum condemn Fox host for comparing Fauci to Nazi doctor who performed medical experiments at death camp". CNN. Retrieved 30 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  44. ^ Bever, Lindsey (3 December 2021). "Fauci criticizes Fox News for silence after pundit Lara Logan compares him to Nazi doctor". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  45. ^ Ted Johnson; Dominic Patten (17 January 2022). "UTA Drops Lara Logan After Comments Comparing Anthony Fauci To Josef Mengele". Deadline Hollywood.
  46. ^ "Fox Nation host Lara Logan links President Zelensky's entertainment career to the occult, and claims the entire Ukrainian military has Nazi links". Media Matters for America. 15 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  47. ^ Lee Moran (22 March 2022). "Russia Uses Lara Logan's Rant About Ukraine, Zelenskyy As Propaganda On Twitter". Yahoo News. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  48. ^ Natalie Oganesyan (21 March 2022). "Russian Officials Endorse Lara Logan's Comments Linking Ukrainian Soldiers to Nazis and Occultism". The Wrap. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  49. ^ Jake Thomas (21 March 2022). "Logan Praised by Russia as 'Real America's Voice' as Schwarzenegger Shunned". Newsweek. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  50. ^ Staff, Media Matters. "Fox Nation host Lara Logan claims that Darwinism is a plot from "the Rothschilds"". Media Matters for America. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  51. ^ Hananoki, Eric. "Fox Nation host Lara Logan shares conspiracy theories about "Putin's purge of the Rothschild money changers," Jewish people masterminding U.S. Civil War". Media Matters for America. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  52. ^ "Coverage of messy divorce ensnares CBS reporter with ties to Quad-Cities". The Washington Post. 8 July 2008. Archived from the original on 24 March 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2013 – via Quad-City Times.
  53. ^ a b c Singer, Sally (17 February 2012). "Safe at Home". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  54. ^ Dornic, Matt (4 March 2010). "Lara Logan Delivers". FishbowlDC/Adweek. Archived from the original on 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  55. ^ "2004 Gracies Gala Winners". Alliance for Media in Women. 10 November 2016.
  56. ^ "2006 OPC Award Winners". Overseas Press Club of America. 1 May 2007.
  57. ^ "Award Winners". Radio and Television Correspondents' Association.
  58. ^ Foster, Stella (17 October 2011). "Stella Foster recognized for journalism career". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  59. ^ "CBS News' Lara Logan, al Jazeera's Dorothy Parvaz win John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award for 2011". The Sacramento Bee. Washington. PR Newswire. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2011. The National Press Club has selected CBS News correspondent Lara Logan and al Jazeera's Dorothy Parvaz as winners of the John Aubuchon Press Freedom Award for 2011.[permanent dead link]
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