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OPINION
UPDATE
THE MANY FACES OF LARA LOGAN
(Oct 9th, 2008 9:00AM PST)
BY ERS NEWS
This year CBS News correspondent Lara Logan has gone from media darling to tabloid pariah. Her brand of journalism has been besmirched by critics and at the same time trumpeted by her supporters. As for her employer CBS News, they seem to like what she’s doing. Logan was recently promoted to Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the network and moved to Washington, DC from her ever-changing overseas datelines. as CBS’s roving war reporter in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Here at ERS News we have reported on Logan extensively. You can see our stories to date below. They have run the gamut from CBS and Logan making a false claim (later retracted by CBS) that Logan interviewed a terrorist warlord on the run from U.S. forces in Afghanistan -- to bogus PR claims about Logan having been the only American reporter in Baghdad when U.S. forces took control of the city in the 2003 invasion. Just last week ERS broke the story of her CBS office furnishings, which include items taken from Iraq The biggest story media wise though has been Logan’s part in an Iraq love triangle scandal that has graced the pages of other mainstream media outlets – not ERS.
Lest anyone believe that The Enterprise Report has it in for Ms. Logan, we assure our readers we do not. We just report the news, when it comes to us and we do it accurately and fairly. Yesterday we received an email in our inbox that we found very interesting.
The story detailed the travails of Jehad Ali, an Iraqi cameraman and journalist, who in the course of doing his job, got an up-close and nearly fatal demonstration of the perils of practicing journalism in Baghdad in recent years. It also explains how CBS reporter Lara Logan helped spearhead outside assistance to help the man get the medical treatment he needs.
The story comes from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a DC based organization that supports journalist and advocates for their safety in covering the news around the world. Rather than retell the story you can read it for yourself. “A California Dream"
Logan who is quoted in the story saying, “I was absolutely astounded by the response,” she said. Money poured in from friends, colleagues, and journalists, including big-name news anchors. By late summer, funds stood at around $50,000. “I was very proud,” Logan said. “Someone in Iraq in Jehad’s condition didn’t normally survive. But he had. He had no big network to take him on … no one to turn to. So I said, ‘Well, he’s a journalist and they have organizations.…’ That’s when I contacted CPJ.”
ERSNews is based in the Los Angeles area of Southern California. We look forward to seeing Mr. Ali here in Southern California getting the chance to sit in LA’s famous traffic on his way to the hospital to get the much needed medical treatment he needs.
In our opinion it just goes to show that the “news” isn’t always bad.
OPINION
EXCLUSIVE
LARA LOGAN
THE LOOTER?
IS THAT IRAQ WAR
“LOOT”
IN HER CBS OFFICE?
(Oct 1st, 2008 7:00AM PST)
BY ERS NEWS
Lara Logan is one hot commodity. Her derring-do overseas as a foreign war correspondent for CBS News has earned her a reputation as a hard charging, take no prisoners kind of reporter. Her style of journalism has earned her accolades as well as criticism and ridicule.
Earlier this year, after spending most of her time reporting from the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan and other locations covering the U.S. ‘War on Terror” in recent years, Logan relocated. She is now in the safer confines of Washington, D.C. Where Logan is the CBS News’ new Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent. She has also become a top tabloid favorite this year because of her overseas romantic relationships with a U.S. defense contractor and a CNN reporter in Iraq and her announced pregnancy with the contractor's child. The story of her overseas love life has graced the pages from the National Enquirer to the Washington Post.
When Logan returned to the U.S this year to her new role as Foreign Affairs correspondent, CBS News embarked on a public relations push. Logan appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and grabbed headlines with her blunt opinions about the war and the U.S. media coverage in Iraq and elsewhere. Stories about her were everywhere from TV, print to online media.
One recent story caught The Enterprise Report’s attention. It was posted just over a week ago by “Broadcasting and Cable”, a longtime respected media outlet. The story entitled “Lara Logan’s Spoils of War” by reporter Marisa Guthrie, took a behind the scenes look at Logan’s CBS offices.
Take a look at the story
Spoils of War: A Tour of Lara Logan's Office from Broadcasting & Cable on Vimeo.
Clearly from the view of things, Logan has some paintings and posters on her office walls that came from Iraq. She even explains to the reporter for Broadcasting and Cable where they came from and how she got them. This could be a problem, because as far as ERSNews can discern taking Iraqi property out of Iraq as “war loot” is a crime in the U.S.
In 2003 after US troops had invaded and removed Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein from power, reporters and other media types who had ridden in with the troops began returning home to the U.S. Many of them decided to bring home some “war souvenirs” from their time in Iraq. The only problem was (and seemingly still is) that the U.S. government says it’s a crime to do so.
The U.S. government even went so far as to charge one media member (an engineer working with the Fox News Channel) with a crime for attempting to bring in various posters and paintings he admitted he had taken from Iraqi palaces. That former Fox News engineer, who was fired at the time, later pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined and given a year’s probation. He is now, as he told ERSNews by telephone today “a convicted felon” unable to vote. He also told ERS that he wasn’t all that interested in talking about his case really, but would take a look at our story.
In 2003, U.S. Customs and The Department of Homeland Security officials held a well attended national media news conference to announce how they were doing everything to stem the tide of looted property from Iraq after the war. You can read some of those 2003 stories here and here
ERS is still wondering, if its illegal to bring in “looted” items from Iraq, and someone has even been convicted of a crime for doing so -- why is it O-K for Lara Logan to be displaying a few of those same kind of items framed on her office walls at CBS News and have public media stories done about them without any US Customs people paying attention?. We don’t know yet for sure, but we’ll stay on the story until we find out!
UPDATE
WHY WON'T CBS NEWS
ANSWER QUESTIONS
ABOUT HOW IT OBTAINED
A SO-CALLED
“EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW”
LARA LOGAN
WASN’T THERE
SO WHO WAS?
(July 14th, 2008 9:00AM PST)
BY ERS NEWS
CBS News and Lara Logan hailed their “exclusive interview” with Afghan warlord and terrorist Gulbeddin Hekmatyar on June 16, 2008 on the CBS News.com website. The broadcast version of the story also aired on the CBS Evening News.
Later CBS News changed their story again, saying Logan had “submitted written questions and Hekmatyar responded on videotape.” CBS News won't disclose who conducted what they continue to claim was an “interview.” They also continue to refuse to provide any information about who the “stringer” was they claim conducted an interview on their behalf.
We’ve seen many of these tapes over the years; from Osama Bin Laden and others like him. It’s news for sure when they send them out to the world via the own media operation, but we have never seen one of these terrorist propaganda tapes portrayed as an “interview”.
Gulbeddin Hekmatyar
STILL FROM VIDEOTAPE PROVIDED TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
(March 2007)While CBS continues to refuse to answer our questions, ERSNews will continue to investigate and seek answers.
UPDATE
LLARA LOGAN CBS NEWS' NEW "CHIEF FOREIGN AFFAIRS" CORRESPONDENT AND HER NEWS DIVISION HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ACCURACY
SERIAL TRUTH STRETCHER?
“NEVER LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY”
(June 26th, 2008 5:30PM PST)
BY ERS NEWS
Was Lara Logan, as CBS News claims in a press release put out June 25th, 2008 and touted by CBS News President Sean McManus “ … the only journalist from an American network in Baghdad when the U.S. military invaded the city.”
Both Logan and CBS News claims she was. Problem is, she wasn’t.
Lara Logan, the fast rising star at CBS News, who’s derring-do overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere in recent years has catapulted her to network news stardom may need to hire someone to fact check the claims being made about her by her bosses at CBS. We assume she actually watches and reads her own stories, bio and the press releases put out about her.
Although, we may be wrong about that, because on a recent appearance last week on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” she professed to not watching American TV News.
Now Logan and her CBS' bosses have more fact checking to do.
CBS News claims Logan was the only journalist working for an American network in Baghdad when U.S. forces rolled into the city and toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. But that claim is patently false.
While Logan was in Baghdad at the time, having returned to the city only hours before US troops rolled in, she was far from the only American journalist there.
At the time, April 4th, 2003, many American journalists, including several from American broadcast networks were also there. They included Richael Engel, now of NBC News, who was working for ABC News filing reports from the Iraqi capital.
In addition, NPR reporter Ann Garrells was in Baghdad filing reports. To hear Garrel’s NPR 2003 reports click here:
As anyone who watches American TV News would know, Fox News reporter Greg Kelly was the only American reporter embedded with the U.S. Army's 3-ID division as they rolled into central Baghdad and took control of the Iraqi capitol on live TV.
Kelly, who still works for Fox News today, has described his front line Baghdad experience that day as somewhat “surreal.” Although we doubt it, he may wonder if he was there or not after reading CBS and Logan’s claims. ERS can assure him and the public it wasn’t all a dream.
*Editor’s Note: As ERS was preparing to publish this story Thursday morning (June 26, 2008) the online media site “TVNewser” reported that a CBS spokesperson clarified the inaccurate statement saying "Lara was the only reporter for an American network who reported live from Firdos Square as the statue of Saddam fell."
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BREAKING NEWS
UPDATE
CBS NEWS RETRACTS
PART OF ITS "EXCLUSIVE STORY"
DUE TO ERS NEWS REPORT
LARA LOGAN
CBS NEWS CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
DID NOT CONDUCT
'EXCLUSIVE' INTERVIEW
WITH AFGHAN WARLORD
(June 24th, 2008 5:50PM PST)
BY ERS NEWS
CBS News today retracted a previously reported claim that Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara Logan, a rising star at the network, had conducted an "exclusive" interview with Afghan Warlord and wanted terrorist Gulbeddin Hekmatyar.
The CBS News story which was broadcast on the CBS Evening News and posted online at CBSNews.com last week can be seen below in our initial report from this past Sunday.
The action taken by CBS News late today (Tuesday - June 24, 2008) was in direct response to the ERSNews report published this past Sunday evening raising questions about the broadcast and the accompanying online reports.
Our stories first revealed that Logan was not in Afghanistan, when CBS News claimed she conducted an "exclusive interview" for the network with the wanted terrorist.
ERSNews submitted detailed questions to CBS News spokeswoman Jennifer Farley nearly a week ago concerning how the report was put together and how the tape of Hekmatyar was made and obtained by CBS News, The Enterprise Report has yet to be provided a response.
Here at ERS its seems that the CBS may be trying to play a good game of spin and damage control. Nonetheless, we will just keep reporting the news accurately and let the truth chips fall where they may.
OPINION
THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH
CBS NEWS WAR CORRESPONDENT
LARA LOGAN, THAT NEVER HAPPENED
HOW DOES ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST WANTED TERRORISTS “TELL” AND “TALK WITH” A REPORTER ABOUT SOMETHING WHEN SHE’S NOT EVEN THERE TO ASK THE QUESTIONS OR EVEN IN THE COUNTRY AND WASN’T INVOLVED?
(June 22nd, 2008 10:00AM PST)
BY ERS NEWS
ERSNews recently read the following headline on the CBS news site and it caught our attention.
The TV report did not ring true, an exclusive interview, but no reporter conducting it? In the web version of the story the line “talked with” Lara Logan jumped out as well. The interview was with Afghan warlord Gulbeddin Hekmatyar. Since 2001 he’s been killing American soldiers and many others in Afghanistan for decades.
What immediately caught our attention was the headline. Lara Logan, CBS’s Chief Foreign Correspondent, a former swimsuit model, turned journalist years ago, has made a name for herself in recent years with her derring-do overseas in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
On its face it seemed she had landed an exclusive sit down interview with this wanted terrorist, right? Well not quite...not even close.
Lara Logan was nowhere in the story, not in the interview and not in the story itself, either in the TV version, broadcast on the CBS Evening News or the web version posted on the networks CBSNews.com. What was uncommon is that two times in the web version it say’s Logan talked with the terrorist and implied she conducted or had some kind of direct hand in interviewing Hekmatyar herself.
ERSNews followed up with several other questions about exactly how CBS News had obtained this tape and how the story was put together as an exclusive interview with Lara Logan. We are still waiting for the answers.
CBS News should have disclosed the fact their Chief Foreign Correspondent was not involved in the actual interview in any way, shape, or form. Logan was simply fronting the story.
The headline and picture caption, which suggests Logan had a sit-down with this Afghan warlord who is on the run and being hunted by the U.S. Military, is not just misleading, it’s false. That’s not journalism, even if you were one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year in 2007!
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9-11, AN INNOCENT MAN AND THE HERO AGENT IN PHOENIX WHO WASN'T.
The story of how one man, in the wrong place at the wrong time, can end up being labeled a terrorist and how mistakes and incompetence by the FBI made before and after 9-11 ruined his life.
