Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 04:22, 17 February 2011

Lara Logan
CBS News correspondent Lara Logan in Iraq. US Army photo.
Born	(1971-03-29) 29 March 1971 (age 53) Durban, South Africa
Education	University of Natal, 1992 Commerce
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	2000–present
Notable credit(s)	Chief Foreign Correspondent for CBS News (2006– present) Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for CBS News(2008–present) 60 Minutes II correspondent (2002–2004) 60 Minutes correspondent (2006–present)
Title	CBS News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Website	http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/02/broadcasts/main531421.shtml

Lara Logan (born 29 March 1971) is a South African television and radio journalist and war correspondent. She is currently the Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for CBS News, a correspondent for 60 Minutes and appears in segments for CBS Evening News.

Early life

Logan was born in Durban, South Africa. She attended high school at Durban Girls' College, and later attended the University of Natal in Durban, graduating in 1992.

Career

Logan has described how she begged a clerk at the Russian Embassy in London to give her an expedited visa for travel into Afghanistan days after the attacks on 9/11. In November 2001, Logan was in Afghanistan working as a correspondent for the British morning program, GMTV. While there, she infiltrated the American- and British-backed Northern Alliance and interviewed their commander, General Babajan, at the Bagram Air Base.

Logan next spent much of the next four years reporting from the field, including warzones in Afghanistan and Iraq, often as an embedded journalist with the American Armed Forces.

Logan was promoted to the position of the Chief Foreign Correspondent for CBS News in February 2006.

Haifa Street fighting

In late January 2007, Logan filed a report about fighting along Haifa Street in Baghdad. When CBS News refused to run the report on the nightly news because the footage was "a bit strong," Logan tried to win public support to reverse this decision. Logan said, "I would be very grateful if any of you have a chance to watch this story and pass the link on to as many people you know as possible. It should be seen. And people should know about this." Logan went on to use some of the Haifa Street material during a 60 Minutes report about life in Baghdad under the surge.

Criticism of Michael Hastings article

In June 2010, Rolling Stone magazine published an article written by Michael Hastings which quoted four-star Army General Stanley A. McChrystal and his staff contemptuously criticizing civilian government officials and leading to his retirement. Logan criticized Hastings on CNN's Reliable Sources, saying there must have been ground rules that would have limited Hastings' reporting on what she characterized as "insults and banter". She said there is an "unspoken agreement" involving "an element of trust" where you don't "blindside" the military and described the general tenor of the article as sensationalistic. In support of Logan's skepticism, ABC News reported that the military said the comments were thought to have been off the record. Rolling Stone contended that all ground rules had been followed.

Matt Taibbi, another journalist for Rolling Stone, criticized Logan for what he characterized as a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of journalism. Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com said that Hastings was "exposing the relevant secrets of the powerful" whereas Logan was protecting them. However, Logan defended her record for balanced reporting, citing her report of hand grenades killing troops. A column in The Week argued that in one way Logan was right, quoting Max Fisher of The Atlantic that the military will now "shy away from reporters," making it more difficult to report to the public about the war.

CNN's former chief military correspondent, Jamie McIntyre, weighed in both criticizing and praising Logan and Hastings. He thought it irrelevant that Hastings had never served, as highlighted by Logan, and said the problem involved more than just "insults and banter."

Protests in Egypt

On 3 February 2011, Time magazine reported that while covering the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Logan and her crew were arrested by the Egyptian army in Cairo on suspicion of being Israeli spies. Logan later said of the incident: "We were not attacked by crazy people in Tahrir Square. We were detained by the Egyptian army. Arrested, detained, and interrogated. Blindfolded, handcuffed, taken at gunpoint, our driver beaten. It's the regime that arrested us. They arrested just outside of his hotel, and they took him off the road at gunpoint, threw him against the wall, handcuffed him, blindfolded him. Took him into custody like that."

On 15 February 2011, CBS News released a statement revealing that some four days earlier, Logan had been beaten and sexually assaulted while covering the celebrations in Tahrir Square following the resignation of then President Hosni Mubarak. CBS News indicated that she was overwhelmed along with her camera crew and security staff: "It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy. In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers." Logan returned to her hotel after the assault and was flown out of the country within hours on a chartered network jet. She reportedly wasn't taken to a local hospital because the "network didn't trust local security there" and didn't report the assault to Egyptian authorities because they "couldn't trust them, either." Upon returning to the United States, Logan was admitted into a hospital for recovery. A person familiar with the incident told the Wall Street Journal that the assault "was not rape." Her injuries were described as "serious."

Personal life

Lara Logan was a swimsuit model while attending college. Her husband is a U.S. Federal Government defense contractor from Texas, whom she met in Iraq. They had a son in January, 2009. Her previous husband, Jason Siemon, was a professional basketball player in the United Kingdom. Logan once complained to Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post that her personal life had been, "tabloid fodder." Joe Burkett's former wife Kimberly Burkett, accused Lara Logan of breaking up their marriage. She was also said to have been courting Michael Ware, another reporter, at the same time as she became involved with Joe Burkett which was said to have resulted in a brawl between the two men.

References

1. ^ "Lara Logan". CBS News. 2002-12-02. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
2. "Lara Logan". NNDB. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
3. ^ Steinberg, Jacques (2005-11-23). "War Zone "It Girl" Has a Big Future at CBS News". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
4. Logan, Lara (2007-01-18). "Battle for Haifa Street". CBS News. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
5. ^ O'Connor R, Olson D (2007-01-26). "Helping Lara Logan". Mediachannel.org. Retrieved 2007-02-01.
6. David, Bauder (2007-02-01). "CBS Correspondent Makes Plea for Airtime". Casper Star Tribune. Retrieved 2007-02-02.
7. Hastings, Michael (June 22, 2010). "The Runaway General". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
8. Cooper, Helene (June 24, 2010). "Obama Says Afghan Policy Won't Change After Dismissal". The New York Times. pp. A1. Retrieved June 30, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
9. ^ Kurtz, Howard (June 27, 2010). "Interview With Michael Hastings; Interview With Lara Logan". CNN. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
10. Martinez, Luis (June 25, 2010). "Military Says Rolling Stone Broke Ground Rules on McChrystal Story". ABC News. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
11. Taibbi, Matt (June 28, 2010). "Lara Logan, You Suck". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
12. Greenwald, Glen (June 28, 2010). "The two poles of journalism". Salon.com. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
13. "McChrystal: Was Rolling Stone wrong to expose him?". The Week. June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
14. Fisher, Max (June 28, 2010). "War Reporting Is About to Change for the Worse". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
15. McIntyre, Jamie (June 30, 2010). "Lara Logan's Friendly Misfire". Military.com. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
16. ^ Kamer, Foster. "Lara Logan's Egypt Interrogation Tell-All: "The Army Is Not on the Peoples' Side. The Army Is on Its Own Side."". www.esquire.com. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
17. "TIME Exclusive: CBS's Lara Logan and Crew Detained in Cairo As Violence Escalates". TIME. 2011-02-03. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
18. "CBS's Logan suffered 'brutal' attack in Egypt". Yahoo!. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
19. "CBS News' Lara Logan Assaulted During Egypt Protests". CBS News. 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2011-02-15.
20. "US reporter Lara Logan's brutal assault by mob in Egypt". The Daily Advertiser. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
21. "Lara Logan sexually assaulted and beaten In Egypt: CBS". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
22. ^ CBS reporter's Cairo nightmare 'Lara Logan set upon by mob in brutal sex attack'. New York Post; February 16, 2011.
23. "CBS News's Lara Logan suffered 'brutal' attack in Tahrir Square". Guardian. 2011-02-16. Retrieved 2011-02-16. The Guardian, Richard Adams, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 February 2011
24. CBS News' Lara Logan recovering after 'brutal' attack
25. "CBS Reporter Targeted in Sexual Assault". Wall Street Journal. 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2011-02-16.
26. ^ Kurtz, Howard (2008-07-08). "Back From War, Into Tabloid Territory". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
27. "Lara Logan Gets Hitched". New York Daily News. 2008-11-12. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
28. Roberts, Roxanne (2009-01-07). "Love, Etc". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-01-07. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• CBS News profile
• About.com's Profile of Lara Logan, CBS Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent
• Lara Logan at IMDb
• Logan appears on CNN's Reliable Sources with host Howard Kurtz- Responds to question, "Are Media Turning Against War in Iraq?" (transcript)

Template:60MinutesCorrespondents

Template:Persondata

• 1971 births
• Living people
• People from Durban
• Alumni of the University of Natal
• 60 Minutes correspondents
• War correspondents
• American broadcast news analysts
• South African expatriates in the United States
• South African people of British descent
• American women journalists