This week, we heard the horrible news of the assault of Lara Logan, CBS News’s chief foreign correspondent, in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Too often, the particular dangers that female correspondents face—from sexual harassment to outright physical attack—go unmentioned. In CJR’s May/June 2007 issue, an article by Judith Matloff explored this phenomenon, in which female reporters feel pressure to remain stoic in the face of danger, and to avoid being seen as victims in a “macho” culture.
Matloff, an adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism, previously worked as a foreign correspondent for twenty years. She is also on the board of the International News Safety Institute, which does safety training all over the world.
In this new CJR podcast, Matloff speaks with assistant editor Lauren Kirchner about Logan’s bravery in going public about her assault, and she also provides some safety tips to female journalists working alone or in unfamiliar places.
Listen to the episode below, and be sure to check out the CJR podcast homepage on iTunes, where you can listen to past episodes and subscribe for free.
The saddest thing is that this whole situation could have been avoided if CBS has taken some precautions: http://morningquickie.com/2011/02/18/why-lara-logan-raped-female-reporter-safety/
#1 Posted by Morning Quickie, CJR on Fri 18 Feb 2011 at 12:15 AM
There a lot of men who feel there was a certain poetic justice in Lara Logan being sexually assaulted. That's because she was a tease.
She dressed provocatively in public, wearing gowns with plunging necklines that showed her 34D breasts. She had a reputation for using her sexuality to get news stories. For example, when interviewing men, Logan had an overtly sexual manner to her, using her sexuality to elicit stories. In Iraq, Logan was in a torrid love triangle with, Birkett, a married man and Ware, a CNN reporter.
It was cruel to embed (pun intended) a tease like that with troops who hadn't been with a woman in months. It was like waving a steak in front of a cage of hungry lions. I'm sure she enjoyed the power she had over those men.
If you read the posts about the assault on Logan, you'll see a great deal of resentment against her. It's framed in terms of political ideology, but underneath, there's anger about her sexual manipulativeness.
Do you agree with any of my statement of the facts? If so, do you agree with the inference that she got what she deserved? Please, not a lot of righteous mumbo jumbo. I'm talking about poetic justice.
#2 Posted by Robert, CJR on Mon 7 Mar 2011 at 09:46 AM