It's hard to look away when Lara Logan is in front of the camera. And it's not because of her blond mane or eye-catching good looks--in today's tepid TV news world, female correspondents are expected to look like models. It's something else that keeps you transfixed--that unrelenting stare as she delivers exclusives from inside a war zone, the gaze that tells viewers that she's been there and knows what she's talking about. Because she has, and she does.
I had not heard about Lara Logan until reports circulated about her assault by a mob of Egyptian men during celebrations after Mubarak vacated power. News outlets specifically emphasized the sexual nature of the assault. Lara is blonde and beautiful. She looks fragile as a fashion model, but reports right from the battlefields of the Middle East--not exactly the most egalitarian of societies for women. What disturbed me about this story was the nasty hint of salaciousness in the tone of the coverage. It went beyond the reporting of facts by amplifying a sense of scandal to drive interest in the story. The subtext is that it was doubly atrocious because it involved the spoiling of what was beautiful, pure. It's the same way Nancy Grace exploits the innocence of child-victims to rack up ratings.
Lara Logan accepting an Emmy for the story Ramadi: On the Front Line
On The Colbert Report: Do you enjoy going into situations of danger? (4:03)
The more I learn about Lara Logan from her videos the more I love this woman, who is smart, opinionated, passionate, and brave. She reports on what American soldiers actually experience on the ground--the military's "point of view"--and criticized Rolling Stone's piece on Gen. McChrystal. She reminds me of another fearless and beautiful journalist, the late Oriana Fallaci, who is also not afraid to speak her mind against the PC herd. Fallaci also survived a brutal attack (in Mexico, 1968) while covering a story. She was "shot three times, dragged down stairs by her hair, and left for dead by Mexican forces" (Wikipedia).
Nir Rosen, also a war correspondent in the Middle East, callously belittled what happened to Lara Logan on Twitter:
lara logan had to outdo anderson. where was her buddy mccrystal?
incidentally, it seems like this happened to quite a few women, foreign and egyptian, on friday in tahrir square
yes yes its wrong what happened to her. of course. i don't support that. but, it would have been funny if it happened to anderson too.
look, she was probably groped like thousands of other women, which is still wrong, but if it was worse than i'm sorry.
He later half-heartedly recanted, after a backlash (yawn, don't they all), but made it worse by insinuating that she deserved what she got for being a "war monger". Can this idiot dig his grave any deeper?
jesus christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger
ah fuck it, i apologize for being insensitive, its always wrong, thats obvious, but i’m rolling my eyes at all the attention she will get
and as a result of that i hope people remember her role glorifying war and condemning rolling stone’s hastings while defending mcchrystal
This is coming from a guy who believes Hizballah is not a terrorist organization, and called America an "imperialist power" to Biden's face in a senate hearing.
His negative prognosis of the war feeds the pessimism of progressive news outfits like Democracy Now! I wonder what they now think of his misogynistic tweets.
More Rosen non-apologies, where he reminds us that he's all about the victims and justice.
i apologize and take it back. joking with friends got out of line when i didnt want to back down. forgot twitter is not exactly private
As someone who’s devoted his career to defending victims and supporting justice, I’m very ashamed for my insensitive and offensive comments
on the job you get used to making jokes about our own death, other people’s deaths, horrors, you forget that you sound like a dick at home
to the 500 people new twitter followers and the old ones. I did not mean it and i apologize again. it was an inappropriate unaccetable joke
Unfortunately, you cannot take back what you publish on the Internet these days. Even those seemingly ephemeral tweets. Isn't it ironic though that Nir Rosen fell on the same sword as that other loose-lipped fellow, Lara Logan's "buddy", Gen. McChrystal?
I wish you well and hope to see you back on the job, Lara.
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