Lara Logan Report In New York Magazine Slammed As Sexist

CBS 60 Minutes’ correspondent Lara Logan was the subject of a report in New York Magazine which examines her rise to fame and fall from grace following a botched report on the Benghazi attack of September 11, 2012.

Logan was forced to take a leave of absence in the aftermath, after defending her reporting and sources for days. She later had to apologize for not crossing all her Ts and dotting all her Is, prior to going live with an unreliable source.

In the report about Logan titled “Benghazi and the Bombshell,” author Joe Hagan suggests that the 43-year-old South African born correspondent used her looks in many instances to get assignments.

Logan’s reporting enjoyed its highs during the Bush years. She was sent to Iraq — and was the only major American news correspondent on the ground for the invasion — and helped CBS bounce back from another scandal in 2004 after veteran journalist Dan Rather was found to have used less than reliable sources on his story about then candidate George W. Bush and his time in the Texas National Guard.

Logan was also in Afghanistan doing first hand stories, interviewing people on the ground, and making a name as an intrepid international correspondent.

After doing an overview of how Lara Logan ended up having to take a leave of absence from 60 Minutes and avoided getting the boot from the network, Hagan goes on to state:

“She also happened to have a telegenic sexual charisma, a highly useful attribute for a woman who wants to succeed in TV journalism.”

He also says that her looks caught the eye of CBS Chairman Leslie Moonves, who according to Hagan “viewed her steely eyes, breathless delivery, and exotic accent as the raw material of a future star.”

Hagan mentions several instances in which Logan used her looks to further her career and says that she used the paparazzi to her advantage, once tipping them off about her “lingerie hanging on a laundry line so he could take a picture.”

“She deployed her beauty to charm and persuade colleagues and sources to great effect—but the effectiveness didn’t prevent co-workers and competitors from calling her a lightweight.”

Hagan states that American soldiers stationed in Iraq were excited to have “34D Lara” (a nickname earned following photos of Logan in a swimsuit were made public) show up in a T-shirt and that General David Petraeus allegedly had Lara Logan’s photo in his office.

Lara Logan’s aggressive style landed her in trouble while reporting from Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, when she was stripped and groped by a group of protesters.

Following the incident, she received great support from colleagues at CBS — even those who disliked her and her tactics — but this meant that she was not allowed in the front lines of dangerous news developments any longer.

Lara Logan’s assault in Tahrir Square made news around the world and earned her a great deal of sympathy, though some of her colleagues that were witnesses have said they don’t agree with her accounts of what happened that night.

The new angle on the Benghazi attack was her chance at a return after being assigned to “softer” reporting. However, that all blew in her face after it was discovered that her source was more interested in selling books than telling the truth.

Meanwhile, some of Hagan’s sources claim that CBS wants Lara Logan to leave on her own and allegedly have a replacement in sight, another good looking reporter by the name of Clarissa Ward, who is “attractive, blonde, and fluent in three foreign languages.”

Do you think the New York Magazine report on Lara Logan is sexist?

[Image via CBS]