Lara Logan (UPDATED)

You could write a book on all the problems with this morally abhorrent article on Lara Logan:

Benghazi and the Bombshell
Is Lara Logan too toxic to return to 60 Minutes?

The most disgusting part was Joe Hagan’s insinuation that Logan was asking for it when she was sexually assaulted in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the uprising that toppled Mubarak.

First Hagan tells us that “Logan often flouted traditional Islamic dress codes”. And then there is this:

“She was told 15 different ways: ‘Do not leave the hotel after curfew,’ and she did,”

Normally, reporters are lauded for their bravery when they try get close to the events while covering a story. Logan, however, is not to be lauded so the writer has to imply that she was arrogant and reckless. (As if most reporters are humble as church mice.)

The article tips its hand as it builds its case against Logan. What really sticks in the craw of Hagan and the backstabbers at CBS is that Logan left the MSM reservation. I suspect for most people, that is to her credit.

For instance, she is condemned for expressing her political opinions in a speech in October 2012:

Then, at a Chicago luncheon for the Better Government Association in October 2012, she gave a speech claiming the government was propagating a “major lie” about the strength of the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. “You’re not listening to what the people who are fighting you say about this fight,” she said. “In your arrogance, you think you write the script.” The speech came on the heels of her report “The Longest War,” about General John Allen’s struggles in Afghanistanand with his superiors in the Obama administration.

Among her colleagues at 60 Minutes, there was shock that Logan’s expression of her political opinions in public was met with no blowback from management. But it was her CBS bosses who had helped arrange the speech. While Logan spoke without notes, David Rhodes, the president of CBS News, was sitting in the audience listening.

Logan’s quoted remarks are political in only one sense: they were critical of a government headed by Barak Obama. When Bush was president, such these sort of remarks were both common and widely praised. Logan said exactly the sort of thing that David Halberstam said during the Vietnam War. Halberstam is an icon for journalists yet Logan is becoming a pariah?

Why?

LBJ vs. BHO.

That’s just how journolisters roll.

The most often voiced criticism of Logan is that she respects the military and does patriotic stories.

“She was part of the military culture, taking some of the same risks, imbibing its worldview.”

“Her proximity to the top brass and her devotion to military interests”

“The number of segments Logan did for 60 Minutes ramped up under Fager. Almost all of them focused on military figures and assorted heroics: “Staff Sgt. Giunta’s Medal of Honor”; “A Relentless Enemy”; “Combat in Afghanistan”; “The Silver Star”; “Kidnapped in Basra”; “Ambush in Afghanistan.””

“Enmeshed in the social world of former and current military personnel.”

This is what made Logan a pariah at CBS and within the MSM.

Two telling insights into the worldview of reporters:

First Robert D. Kaplan from 1996:

Fort Leavenworth and the Eclipse of Nationhood

"The military," Major Kellett-Forsyth told me, "is in the nation-state world. The media represents the postmodern, or transnational world. Overseas, [U.S. soldiers] sit down with each other. The American media sits down with foreign journalists: that's its socialization group."

David Gelernter from 1998:

Between lawmen and reporters on the whole it is impossible, however, not to notice this difference: Most lawmen seem to hate criminals, and most reporters couldn't care less.

As Hagan makes clear, the old guard at “60 Minutes” and CBS News hated Logan and the sort of stories she did. In the MSM, this criticism is seen as fatal for Logan’s reputation. For the nation as a whole, however, it may be a badge of honor.

After all, no one can accuse Mike Wallace of being too patriotic:

“Don’t you have a higher duty as an American citizen to do all you can to save the lives of soldiers rather than this journalistic ethic of reporting fact?” Ogletree asked. Without hesitating Wallace responded: “No, you don’t have higher duty...You’re a reporter.” This persuaded Jennings, who changed his view: “I think he’s right, too. I chickened out.”

UPDATE:

Joe COncha is a stand up guy.

Joe Concha to Howard Kurtz: Lara Logan ‘Deserves Better’ from CBS News

Brian Stelter, on the other hand, continues to play the fool.

CBS’ Benghazi Problem