(Update: June 26, 8:57am, PST): “CBS News loads up on Lara Logan” –NY Daily News
(Update: June 24, 6:13pm, PST): The Enterprise Report has just updated its Web site with “Breaking News” concerning the decision by CBS News to remove controversial claim from cbsnews.com
“ERSNews submitted detailed questions to CBS News spokeswoman Jennifer Farley nearly a week ago concerning how the report was put together and how the tape of Hekmatyar was made and obtained by CBS News, The Enterprise Report has yet to be provided a response.” -ersnews.com
(Update/related: June 24, 5:20pm PST): TV Newser: “Lara Logan moves to D.C.: will continue as foreign correspondent”
(Update: June 24, 2:05pm PST): CBS News has now removed the controversial text from its Web site. The following “editor’s note” now appears:
EDITOR’S NOTE: The description of this story has been updated to clarify that while the exclusive interview with Afghan warlord Gulbeddin Hekmatyar was with CBS News, it was not with correspondent Lara Logan. -cbsnews.com
CBS CLAIM: FACT OR FICTION?
In its “opinion” post, the Web site ersnews.com ( The Enterprise Report ) draws its sword and seemingly cuts to pieces claims made by CBS News that its chief foreign correspondent, Lara Logan, spoke with notorious Mujahideen leader Gulbeddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar is wanted by the U.S. government for attempting to overthrow the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai.
In short, an exlcusive sit-down interview with a man who appears near the top of America’s list of most wanted terrorists is one heck of a “get.” So much so, it prompted The Enterprise Report to investigate claims such as one currently appearing on cbsnews.com:
Exclusive: Afghan Warlord Talks Resistance Notorious Terrorist Tells CBS News’ Lara Logan About Evading Capture and What He Thinks Of George Bush
The Enterprise Report felt something was missing from the story: namely, any evidence of Logan speaking directly to Hekmatyar.
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.com
According to its Web site, The Enterprise Report contacted CBS Evening News spokesperson Jennifer Farley. The Enterprise Report’s Web site includes an image of what it says is an excerpt of the Farley’s e-mailed reply. The excerpt states:
“So as with many pieces that involve getting sound from a warlord in a region like Afghanistan, a stringer got the sound, and as we reported in the piece, that material was supplied it exclusively to CBS News for Logan’s piece.” -excerpt from e-mail reportedly from CBS Evening News spokesperson Jennifer Farley
For more on this story, I recommend that you read The Enterprise Report’s opinon piece and that you review the actual CBS News coverage as it appears on cbsnews.com.
Finally, what do you think? Are you comfortable with the way that CBS News presented the story on its Web site?