South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is one of the loudest voices of the Republican Party’s Benghazi conspiracy faction. According to Joe Hagan of New York magazine, Graham’s commitment to circulating rumors about the incident prompted 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan to consult the senator on what really happened during the September 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. It didn’t go so well.
60 Minutes, CBS News’ hour-long Sunday newsmagazine, had a good run during its 45 year history, during which its target cohort had kids and retired to Florida. But as the last month indicates—Benghazi! Amazon drones! NSA!—it’s time for the glossy production to clean house. Or, more likely, die.
60 Minutes reporter Lara Logan and producer Max McClellan were sent on a leave of absence after CBS finished investigating the pair's now-discredited report on the Benghazi attacks. "The 60 MINUTES journalistic review is concluded, and we are implementing ongoing changes based on its results," a spokesman told Gawker.
Every so often, a beautiful sort of kismet occurs on Saturday Night Live, when a public figure goes off the rails and an SNL comic is perfectly positioned to mock them mercilessly. It happened for Will Ferrell with George Bush and Tina Fey with Sarah Palin. Now it's Bobby Moynihan's turn — and the man was born to play Rob Ford.
Everyone wants to know: Why did CBS correspondent Lara Logan trust Dylan Davies, the now-discredited security contractor, and the story he told 60 Minutes about the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya? It’s truly mystifying—unless, that is, you know about her last significant lapse in professional judgement involving a security contractor.
Last week CBS correspondent Lara Logan announced that 60 Minutes would apologize on Sunday night’s broadcast for airing an interview with a Welsh security contractor named Dylan Davies, who lied about visiting the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, when it came under attack in September 2012. You can watch Logan’s tepid apology—in her words, a “correction”—in the video above.
Today CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes retracted its bombshell report about security failures during the September 11, 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The embarrassing retraction, announced on CBS This Morning by Lara Logan, came nearly a week after The Washington Post challenged the veracity of one of 60 Minutes’ sources, a security contractor named Dylan Davies, and hours after the New York Times revealed that Davies supplied FBI investigators with a very different story.
In February, CBS abruptly announced that its correspondent Lara Logan "suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating" in Cairo while covering the Egyptian revolution. It was odd to make a such a strong, vague statement; it got everyone's attention, but nobody knew what it really meant.
Sunday Times foreign correspondent Marie Colvin—who was in Egypt during the uprising—says that she spoke with "medical sources," as well as an unnamed friend of CBS foreign correspondent Lara Logan, who "suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault" in Cairo's Tahrir square. The Australian summarizes Colvin's reporting:
Michael Kelly was killed in a Humvee accident in Iraq. Bob Woodruff was blown up by an I.E.D. Damn near every reporter covering the Egyptian revolution was assaulted one way or another, including Lara Logan, in the most awful possible way. Hundreds of reporters around the world are attacked every year on the job. Is that a necessity?
• Laura Bush either received $1.5 million for her memoir or $3.5-5 million, depending on who you believe. Either way, it's a lot less than Hillary Clinton's $8 million advance for Living History. [NYP, WSJ]
• Chris Matthews is not running for Senate, according to his brother. [P'ticker]
• A new buyer has emerged for TV Guide. The movie studio Lionsgate is picking up the cable network and website for $255 million. [AP]
• Senior Village Voice staffers are taking 10-15 percent pay cuts. [DW]
• Another reason kids can't find Iraq on a map: Foreign-related news coverage by the three major networks fell to a record low during 2008. [IPS]
• Those ads on the front-page of the Times run $75K on weekdays. [NYP]
• Ogilvy & Mather is cutting 10 percent of its staff today. [AdAge]
• CBS's Lara Logan gave birth to a son. [FBDC]
Amid 2008's many sex scandals, it was a miracle there was any time left to monitor an epochal presidential election. There were many genuine, dirty affairs — and some duds inevitably got overhyped.
♦ Jennifer Aniston is finally speaking out about her breakup with Brad Pitt. In the December issue of Vogue, she says what Angelina Jolie did was "really uncool," and that she had no idea that Brad had cheated on her until she read about it afterwards. [MSNBC, NYP]
♦ The security guard who roughed-up Brad Pitt at the premiere of his own movie on Monday night says he was only trying to protect Brad by helping him get away from a pack of aggressive photographers. [ET, NYP]
♦ Madonna is supposedly considering a career as a movie director so she can "rival" her ex, Guy Ritchie, at least according to her nutty brother Christopher Ciccone. She should have more time to pursue a directing career if she chooses to: Officials in Malawi have said she can "forget" about adopting another baby as long as she plans to bring it into a "broken home." [The Sun, MSNBC]
♦ Billy Ray Cyrus says he is trying to get Malia and Sasha Obama to appear in an episode of Hannah Montana. [NYDN]
