On June 17, my colleague Kyle Drennen reported a CBS "Evening News" segment wherein "correspondent Lara Logan touted what was essentially a press release from a key terrorist leader in Afghanistan."
CBS News.com headlined the article on this segment as (emphasis added) "Exclusive: Afghan Warlord Talks Resistance; Notorious Terrorist Tells CBS News' Lara Logan About Evading Capture and What He Thinks Of George Bush."
This aroused the curiosity of the good folks at ERS News, who promptly identified that Logan never interviewed this terrorist:
Lara Logan was nowhere in the story, not in the interview and not in the story itself, either in the TV version, broadcast on the CBS Evening News or the web version posted on the networks CBSNews.com. What was uncommon is that two times in the web version it say’s Logan talked with the terrorist and implied she conducted or had some kind of direct hand in interviewing Hekmatyar herself.
ERSNews contacted CBS News in New York and spoke with Evening News spokesman Jennifer Farley. ERSNews: "Did Logan conduct this interview? Was she in the country at the time? If she didn’t conduct the interview, who did? How was the videotape obtained?" Farley really didn’t know the answers and promised to get back to us by email. Later her reply was that Logan was not in Afghanistan at the time and that a [sic] she was not involved in the interview in any way.
A look at the current link to the CBS News.com article on this subject, as well as Google's cached version, clearly shows that the headline ERS News reported did exist. But, now that link (Exclusive: Afghan Warlord Talks Resistance; Notorious Terrorist Tells CBS News' Lara Logan About Evading Capture and What He Thinks Of George Bush) goes to an article with the headline, "Exclusive: Afghan Warlord Talks Resistance; Notorious Terrorist Tells CBS News About Evading Capture And What He Thinks Of George Bush."
Hmmm. Lara Logan's name no longer appears in the headline. I wonder why.
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
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It doesn't matter
June 24, 2008 - 17:01 ET by Captain KirockIt doesn't matter who did the interview. What matters to CBS News is getting that terrorist's propaganda to the people.
Wow Noel...this is
June 24, 2008 - 17:17 ET by bigtimerWow Noel...this is stunning...and absolutely NOTHING will be done about this whatsoever...
Outright LIES from CBS once again.
When oh when is accountability and firings for this BS going to happen...especially something major as this during a time of WAR!
Oh wait...I know, when I see the first pig fly here in Big Sky country.
Despicable...outrageous...
Btw to any trolls out here...I know all about Dan Rather...big deal, he is still everywhere as a know it all, instead of shamed and nowhere to be seen.
<edit> also if this was a reporter adn Fox news this would be a major story on all the other networks...24/7...
No, no bias and hypocrisy with the leftist enemy within...none, nada, zilch...
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Wilson
Any chance this was just an
June 24, 2008 - 17:20 ET by balboaAny chance this was just an honest mistake?
Mistake? Great odds! "Honest"??? Er...Not so much....
June 25, 2008 - 05:30 ET by sarcasmoThink about it. What possible honest explanation is there for inserting Logan's name when she had/has nothing to do with the story? (The honest explanation might go something like, "we were running a PR piece from one side, and we wanted to mask that fact with an actual reporter's name," but does that sound honest to readers?)
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
cbs
June 24, 2008 - 21:19 ET by jaywlWe have to forgive CBS for this lapse. It is obvious that in addition to wanting to give a major score to Lithsome Lara, they just got carried away. After all, imagine the excitement in the newsroom when a story is whiteboarded as "Notorious Terrorist", "Evading US troops", and the juiciest bestest "What he thinks of GEORGE BUSH!" Is it no wonder that CBS forgot their high journalistic standards? Even so they only tweaked, bent, the truth. It wasn't a complete falsehood, you know, with fake documents and such. A leading freedom fighter telling the world just what he thinks of the evil Bush was too much. Forgive their excitement as we forgive our dogs when they are so glad to see us that...never mind.
Doppelgänger?
June 25, 2008 - 00:57 ET by BarkerIs there a TV show in Afghanistan called "Win Gulbeddin Hekmatyar's Money"?
Anyone?
Yes, there is Barker, but
June 25, 2008 - 07:57 ET by SickofLibsYes, there is Barker, but the correct name is...
"Win Gulbeddin Hekmatyar's Daughters"
Separated at birth...
June 25, 2008 - 08:06 ET by Joe C.I thought Gulbeddin Hekmatyar was Fidel Castro 'til I read further.
So CBS airs a propaganda tape and pretends it's "news"
June 25, 2008 - 08:11 ET by c5thenIs anyone really surprized? I'm not.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
And of course, Ms. Logan
June 25, 2008 - 08:41 ET by rimskyAnd of course, Ms. Logan jumped right in the middle of this to correct the mistake and make sure EVERYbody knows the truth, which is that she WASN'T THERE.., right? Wrong. Did Logan say ANYthing about this error?
Maybe it was an honest mistake.. but how do you make that kind of honest mistake. Who decided to credit her with the interview? Did they think that nobody would notice? Makes one wonder if it has happened before, which then makes you think.. mmm.. can you trust anything you see on TV? These days, I trust less and less.