Former CBS correspondent Lara Logan, who ignited a firestorm by accusing many in the establishment media of no longer dealing in journalism, but rather in “horses—t’, doubled down in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity Wednesday, declaring that “Nobody owns me.”
Logan’s three-plus hour chat with Breitbart podcaster Mike Ritland has rocketed across social media, especially where she made the now-famous “horses—t” observation.
“We have a few conventions,” she told Ritland, “if you like, they’re not really rules. But, that, you need at least two first-hand sources for something. Those things help you keep your work to a certain standard. Those standards are out the window. I mean you read one story off another, or hear it, all based on one anonymous administration official, or former administration official. I mean that’s just, that’s not journalism, that’s horses—t. I’m sorry, that is absolute horses—t.”
When the story was reported by the Los Angeles Times, reaction from many readers was bristling, with some people reacting more to the fact that she sat down for an interview with Breitbart, considered a right-wing news platform. Others accused the South Africa native of being a right winger long before departing CBS, criticizing her coverage of the Benghazi scandal.
Logan was brutally assaulted while on assignment in Cairo in 2011, covering the resignation of Hosni Mubarak as president of Egypt.
The story is making big headlines on Mediaite.
In her interview with Hannity, she stuck by her accusation that the majority of the media is liberal. She said in the Breitbart interview that 85 percent of journalists in the United States are registered Democrats, and Hannity suggested the percentage is even higher. The conservative Fox host said her outspoken criticism of establishment journalists could translate to professional suicide.
Logan asserted that she has been “targeted” because of her criticism. Fox News quoted her stating, “They smear you personally. They go after your integrity. They go after your reputation as a person and a professional. They will stop at nothing. I am not the only one. And I am just, I am done, right, I am tired of it. And they do not get to write my story anymore. They don’t get to speak for me, I want to say loudly and clearly to anybody who is listening, I am not owned. Nobody owns me, right? I’m not owned by the left or the right.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that she “quietly left” CBS last year, a fact that was not widely known or reported until her Breitbart interview erupted online.
Logan also accused the establishment media of refusing to accept responsibility for contributing to “fake news.”
“I always say the responsibility for fake news begins with us,” she told Ritland. “We bear some responsibility for that. We’re not taking ownership of that and addressing it. We just want to blame it all on somebody else.”
President Donald Trump has accused the establishment press of reporting “fake news” repeatedly.
