CBS News ‘correspondent’ Lara Logan posing as a reporter…
A few days ago we ran a clip from Newswipe, a BBC parody of ‘news programs’.
It was funny.
But last night 60 Minutes ran a segment on the war in Afghanistan that was more parody than Newswipe.
Alas, it was far from funny.
The segment, the first on the show, was entitled The Quiet Professionals, and it was a profile of the highly trained green beret units in Afghanistan by ‘correspondent’ Lara Logan.
In the end, it didn’t say a whole lot about the Green Berets or Afghanistan but it said reams about the death of journalism on 60 Minutes.
Apparently, the 60 Minutes crew spent 2 months in Afghanistan filming this 7 minute report. From what they have aired, most of that time was spent getting Ms. Logan made up. There are long, languid shots of her in cover-girl pose – extreme close up – as she awaits answers to hard hitting questions like ‘that must be very hard’.
Tough stuff.
We are informed that many of the Green Berets are undercover, so CBS News ‘disguised’ them with Rayban sun glasses.
Great disguise!!
Most of the piece was just a pure softball love fest about how great a job the awesome Green Berets were doing, even if none of it was working. Still, they have beards and wear sun glasses and walk are all in great shape – let’s see them lift some weights! Yes! Sexy stuff and sexy Ms. Logan.
Then, at the end of the story, seemingly by accident – some real action (as opposed to the training exercises we have been watching). A ‘mysterious’ van approaches our hero Green Beret – the guy with the sexy beard and raybans – and our hero opens up on them! From a distance (you never know in Afghanistan). Two ‘warning shots’.
The van, it turns out, is filled with Afghan civilians. What a surprise.
But wait!! Our cool hero Green Beret in the raybans shot!!! two of the civilians in the back of the van!
Two kids!
And they are bleeding all over the van.
One is shot in the leg. The other has been shot in the chest.
Jesus Christ allmighty. You moron!
You absolute idiot!!
A chopper comes in to medivac the two wounded kids to medical care.
Now this is really a story. One that Ms. Logan and her crew have come upon entirely by accident, but what a story.
Do you wanna know why the Taliban are so popular in Afghanistan? It’s because we send thousands of idiots like this guy to parade all over their country killing their children at random and then going ‘oops!’
Does Ms. Logan pick up on this?
Not at all. The story line remains the same. Our hero sexy Green Beret is still our hero! Bad things happen sometimes but he’s still doing his dangerous job. (Dangerous to the locals!!)
More languid shots of Ms. Logan hair blowing in the wind. Make up looking good.
I was personally so astonished at this piece that I went to the 60 Minutes website and posted the very first comment. I said there what I said above.
Remarkably, 10 minutes after I posted my comment, I returned to the 60 Minutes site to see that it had been removed.
Astonishing.
I then tweeted the whole experience and an unnamed producer from 60 Minutes responded that Lara Logan indeed was a mindless piece of fluff. That he used to write every word that came out of her mouth, and that she had gotten hired, much to everyone’s ‘shock’ at CBS News following a ‘dinner’ (his quotes) with Dan Rather.
You know, the media takes a lot of the responsibility for the debacle in Iraq because they simply refused to report.
60 Minutes is doing the same thing in Afghanistan now.
And it’s not like the truth is not out there.
It is.
Raul Gallego Abellan., a Videojournalist for the Associate Press has been in Afghanistan for years, reporting the real story.
He is a far better journalist than Ms. Logan will ever be, he costs a whole lot less than the 60 Minutes crew does, and for two months, he gets a whole lot better product.
Here’s a small example of his work:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z03MrxHodlA[/youtube]Compare this to the pure crap that 60 Minutes puts on the air – not to mention the propaganda feel of their ‘reporting’ and you will see why American journalism is in such serious trouble.
Lara, you looked great!
12 Comments
Gary Herman July 06, 2014
4 years later and yes they are still a piece of shit. Not surprising since Fox, NBC, ABC, and CBS, CNN, MSNBC and especially HLN and local news are corporate owned money grubbing amoral fucks. It’s entertainment and lies, smoke and mirrors. I hope they burn in hell.
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Yaroslav February 02, 2010
do the Afghan soldiers get ray bans, or just us?
Vanessa February 02, 2010
I have seen the piece several times and at first I laughed and then ….well…..just mixed emotions. Bad questions! CBS should embrace positive and negative comments. That is how they will grow and become better. All I have to say is the clips of her with her perfectly placed hair, flawless makeup and “sexy” airy fairy voice were pointless!! Get down and dirty Lara – you may actually learn something!
Will someone be able to change this? Ever?
Tom Weber February 02, 2010
Look. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what is going on here. The electoral cycle is a multibillion-dollar indirect subsidy to broadcasters, who repay this windfall by doing propaganda for the government.
The reason why politicians of both parties have to raise all that money is to give it to commercial broadcasters to buy airtime (which is publicly owned in the first place).
The politicians have to do the bidding of their rich benefactors, even if it runs counter to what the voters want. This is why we get the kind of legislation that we do. We elect candidates who promise us a horse, and we get an alligator. Senator Blowhard’s major campaign contributors raise alligators.
As their part of the bargain, the broadcasters produce mindless puff pieces not questioning the consequences of what the politicians do. Their concept of getting both sides of the story is asking a politician from the other party to give a slightly different shade of the same story (yes, it’s an alligator, but at least it has four legs).
The Supreme Court, in its wisdom, has just opened the doors for more corporate contributions, to be spent on more advertising, and we will no doubt get more fluffy news in the bargain.
What we have here is an elaborate money-laundering operation in which the people’s voice in the government and the people’s right to know are sacrificed to pump billions into a dying industry in return for cheerleading that passes for journalism.
My two cents’ worth
fosca February 02, 2010
all is lost. this is exactly the people who enjoy broadcasts like the one you wrote about. this is an official ad for the austian forces.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJV6ziVZYDk
Bel February 01, 2010
Everyone should be joining Michael Rosenblum’s venomous attack of 60 Minutes’ latest self-congratulatory funfair.
Media budget cuts are effecting the coverage of foreign news. But then in walks CBS and blows a huge sum on producing a flaccid piece about Afghanistan. This comes out at the same time as the whistleblowing website, Wikileaks is begging for financial support so that they can continue exposing the truth around the world.
The big new corporations need to get their priorities straight and should be reminded of the huge responsibility they have on their shoulders as they inform huge audiences about the realities of the world we live in.
No of us should accept this kind of propagandistic, congratulatory drivel. We should all be up in arms about it.
Chris Kohatsu February 01, 2010
I would think that comments such as yours are just what the show needs. Love her or hate her, Lara is able to strike a chord with viewers. And viewers who connect, whether with her or the blatant lack of the story, is exactly what this dinosaur of a show needs.
To censor and delete comments, whether positive or negative, is a stupid move by the producers. Online feedback is one of the best ways to engage an audience. Shame on them if they don’t know that.
Avery February 01, 2010
I didn’t see the 60 minutes piece you referred to and can’t remember the last 60 minutes segment that I have watched.
Its interesting to me that your criticisms of Ms. Logan sound like the same ones raised for years by Rush Limbaugh. “News Babes” that are portrayed as reporters but are in actuality nothing more than empty headed news-readers designed to visually titillate.
Except for the part where you disparage the Green Berets as “idiots” you smacked the nail squarely on the head; 60 minutes IS a pile of crap.
fosca February 01, 2010
you are absolutely right michael. i am content with your description of the broadcast but refuse roughly ten scripts access to my machine. all the mainstream media do is condition their audience to bigger events that we will find ourselves entangled in pretty soon. wait for this months due reports on irans nuclear capacities or abilities. wait for the olympic winter games or better the laws passed while the public sits glued to their tellies watching others go downhill at great speed. and for chances missed while watchers were distracted there is still the world soccer championship to sort things out nice and quiet.
i acknowledge that mr.gallegos pictures might be better (if there are other than pictures of talking heads, no matter how grotesque their statements are), still i fear they will never be broadcast as i lack imagination on which car, chocolate bar or pad could be advertised alongside them. zipped waterproof plastic bags don´t need advertising, they sell by themselves with no chance of a best before date expiring.
Kevin February 01, 2010
Come on Michael, you gotta admit, Lara has a nice rack. And she was probably doin’ the sexy Green Beret. SEX sells!
On the other hand, trying to do stories locally, I see the same stuff. On Orlando’s highest rated network news site, the biggest stories have been: “Lingerie Football”, “Playmate Search” and photos and blogs from our local ‘Miss Hair and Teeth’, newscaster; oh! and Sun Rail, the sexy high speed train. There is nothing on the staggering unemployment, children living in boxes and underbridges with no food or care, not in Haiti! HERE?!? The Chimps could do a better job. But yet, New Media VJ’s are not pros, so what do we know.
To have had a laptop, camcorder and wifi connection….?
$ February 01, 2010
I’m usually one of the first to chime in and tell you how wrong you are.
But not this time!