I did a search for Lara Logan and didn't see this covered so decided to make it my first diary ever.
Kos wasn't the only one on CNN's Reliable Sources this Sunday. Lara Logan, chief foreign correspondent for CBS News had some great comments on the Bush/Cheney blame the media meme as well as a little snark for Laura Ingraham.
Video - http://www.crooksandliars.com/...
Transcript - http://transcripts.cnn.com/...
KURTZ: Bush and Cheney essentially seem to be accusing you and your colleagues of carrying the terrorist message by reporting on so many of these attacks. What do you make of that?
LOGAN: Well, I think that's -- that is a very convenient way of looking at it.
~snip~
And also, as -- I mean, what I would point out is that you can't travel around this country anymore without military protection. You can't travel without armed guards. You're not free to go every time there's a school opening or there's some reconstruction project that's being done.
She goes on to state that until the security issues are addressed and journalists can move freely around the country it's not easy to paint a fair picture. (Of course, she could always do like Faux News and just make shit up.)
She also notes that only 5% of the reconstruction jobs have actually been created so maybe there aren't that many good stories to report.
KURTZ: There is no question that the dangerous conditions for journalists there are making it much harder to report on some of these signs of progress, as you point out. But I look at just the last couple of weeks of your coverage. Besides covering the Saddam trial, you reported on allegations that U.S. troops had killed a group of civilians. Then you reported an attack on a police station, the bombing of a police convoy, you talked about the threat of a civil war. All legitimate stories. But critics would say, well, no wonder people back home think things are falling apart because we get this steady drumbeat of negativity from the correspondents there.
LOGAN: Well, who says things aren't falling apart in Iraq? (emphasis mine) I mean, what you didn't see on your screens this week was all the unidentified bodies that have been turning up, all the allegations here of militias that are really controlling the security forces.
What about all the American soldiers that died this week that you didn't see on our screens?
Lara gets it. If there really was a liberal media slant to show only bad stories out of Iraq, then how come no stories showing the soldiers who are dying every day? How come no drumbeat of the irrefutable fact that Iraq IS in a civil war?
She then shines a light on the myth of all the good stories...where are they and why won't you show them to us?
You don't think that I haven't been to the U.S. military and the State Department and the embassy and asked them over and over again, let's see the good stories, show us some of the good things that are going on? Oh, sorry, we can't take to you that school project, because if you put that on TV, they're going to be attacked about, the teachers are going to be killed, the children might be victims of attack.
Oh, sorry, we can't show this reconstruction project because then that's going to expose it to sabotage. And the last time we had journalists down here, the plant was attacked.
I believe there is a legitimate reason to worry about the people or projects being targeted for attacks. But since we can't see the progress that they crow about, we just have to take their word for it. That would be a hell of a lot easier if they weren't caught lying so often (and if Halliburton wasn't in charge).
Kurtz then plays the tape of conservative Laura Ingraham on "The Today Show" with her `everything is great in Iraq if only the journalists weren't afraid to get out and report it' speech.
At this point in the video they cut back to Lara Logan and you can clearly see the disdain on her face when Ingraham's name is mentioned. She obviously knows a hack when she sees one.
KURTZ: What do you make of that comment about reporting from hotel balconies?
LOGAN: Well, I think it's outrageous. I mean, Laura Ingraham should come to Iraq and not be talking about what journalists are doing from the comfort of her studio in the United States, the comfort and the safety.
I guess she didn't get the memo that Ingraham was in town!
LOGAN: I mean, I don't know any journalist that wants to just sit in a hotel room in Iraq. Does anybody understand that for us we used to be able to drive to Ramadi, we used to drive to Falluja, we used to drive to Najaf. We could travel all over this country without having to fly in military helicopters.
That's the only way we can move around here. So, it's when the military can accommodate us, if the military can accommodate us, then we can go out and see.
I mean we just can't win. I think it's an outrage to point the finger at journalists and say that this is our fault. I really do. And I think it shows an abject lack of respect for any journalist that's prepared to come to this country and risk their lives.
KURTZ: I do want to point out that Laura Ingraham was in Iraq last month for eight days, and that was part of the reason for her appearance.
Lara cuts in with a smile and some snark
LOGAN: For eight days.
A journalist calling bullshit on these creeps is fantastic enough, but to hear another journalist agree is almost orgasmic. Yet according to the transcript the very next person Kurtz talks to is Pamela Hess from UPI who says "...And everything that Lara Logan said is true"
If I weren't so gay, I'd ask Lara Logan to marry me. She's obviously got more balls than most all of the men journalists. But I guess putting your life on the line everyday to report the truth will do that to you.
Quick, somebody tell O'Reilly.