CBS’ Lara Logan On Leave Over Discredited Benghazi Report


CBS‘ Lara Logan is on leave after her Benghazi report on 60 Minutes in October came under fire for relying on a discredited source. Max McClellan, Logan’s producer, will also be taking a leave from CBS. The announcement was made by the news network on Tuesday. Representatives for the network say both McClellan and Logan have damaged their and CBS‘ credibility.

The announcement followed an internal review, which CBS says will lead to further changes to prevent a repeat of the discredited Benghazi report. What changes they plan to put in place were not made clear. They also have not confirmed when Lara Logan and her producer will return to CBS, reports CNN News.

The controversy arose from an interview aired for 60 Minutes on October 27. During the segment, Lara Logan interviewed a security contractor named Dylan Davies. On the segment, Davies told Logan that he had been present in Benghazi during the attack in which four Americans were killed. He described the attack and recalled seeing Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who died that night. In truth, Davies had not been there, as his earlier interviews with the his employers, FBI, and the State Department, according to USA Today.

When this came to light, CBS executives said they were not aware of Davies’ interviews with the government agencies. They did know, though, that Davies had told his employer a different story than the one aired on 60 Minutes. However, with the possibility that they would have the first eyewitness account from a Westerner who was on the scene in Benghazi, it apparently proved to be too much to resist.

In an apology some have criticized as inadequate, Lara Logan admitted that they “were wrong” to air the Dylan Davies interview. A call for CBS to conduct an internal review followed from media watchdog groups. Following the review, Logan and McClellan were asked to take a voluntary leave of absence from 60 Minutes.

In a statement on the findings of the internal review, CBS News Chairman Jeff Fager, also the executive producer for 60 Minutes, says that ultimately the blame for the discredited Benghazi report falls to him, not Lara Logan or Max McClellan.

[Image via Wikimedia Commons / Spc. Steven Young]

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