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Posted: June 28, 2010 4:45 P.M. EDT | By Matt Taibbi

Lara Logan, come on down! You're the next

guest on Hysterical Backstabbing Jealous
Hackfest 2010!

I thought I'd seen everything when I read

David Brooks saying out loud in a New York
Times column that reporters should sit on
damaging comments to save their sources
from their own idiocy. But now we get CBS
News Chief Foreign Correspondent Lara
Logan slamming our own Michael Hastings
on CNN's "Reliable Sources" program,
agreeing that the Rolling Stone reporter
violated an "unspoken agreement" that
journalists are not supposed to "embarrass
[the troops] by reporting insults and banter."

Anyone who wants to know why network

television news hasn't mattered since the seventies just needs to check out this appearance by
Logan. Here's CBS's chief foreign correspondent saying out loud on TV that when the man
running a war that's killing thousands of young men and women every year steps on his own dick
in front of a journalist, that journalist is supposed to eat the story so as not to embarrass the flag.
And the part that really gets me is Logan bitching about how Hastings was dishonest to use
human warmth and charm to build up enough of a rapport with his sources that they felt
comfortable running their mouths off in front of him. According to Logan, that's sneaky — and
journalists aren't supposed to be sneaky:

"What I find is the most telling thing about what Michael Hastings said in your interview
is that he talked about his manner as pretending to build an illusion of trust and, you
know, he's laid out there what his game is… That is exactly the kind of damaging type of
attitude that makes it difficult for reporters who are genuine about what they do, who don't
— I don't go around in my personal life pretending to be one thing and then being
something else. I mean, I find it egregious that anyone would do that in their professional
life."

When I first heard her say that, I thought to myself, "That has to be a joke. It's sarcasm, right?"
But then I went back and replayed the clip – no sarcasm! She meant it! If I'm hearing Logan
correctly, what Hastings is supposed to have done in that situation is interrupt these drunken
assholes and say, "Excuse me, fellas, I know we're all having fun and all, but you're saying things
that may not be in your best interest! As a reporter, it is my duty to inform you that you may end
up looking like insubordinate douche bags in front of two million Rolling Stone readers if you
don't shut your mouths this very instant!" I mean, where did Logan go to journalism school – the
Burson-Marsteller agency?

But Logan goes even further that that. See, according to Logan, not only are reporters not
supposed to disclose their agendas to sources at all times, but in the case of covering the military,
one isn't even supposed to have an agenda that might upset the brass! Why? Because there is an
"element of trust" that you're supposed to have when you hang around the likes of a McChrystal.
You cover a war commander, he's got to be able to trust that you're not going to embarrass him.
Otherwise, how can he possibly feel confident that the right message will get out?

True, the Pentagon does have perhaps the single largest public relations apparatus on earth –
spending $4.7 billion on P.R. in 2009 alone and employing 27,000 people, a staff nearly as large
as the 30,000-person State Department – but is that really enough to ensure positive coverage in
a society armed with a constitutionally-guaranteed free press?

And true, most of the major TV outlets are completely in the bag for the Pentagon, with two of
them (NBC/GE and Logan's own CBS, until recently owned by Westinghouse, one of the world's
largest nuclear weapons manufacturers) having operated for years as leaders in both the
broadcast media and weapons-making businesses.

But is that enough to guarantee a level playing field? Can a general really feel safe that Americans
will get the right message when the only tools he has at his disposal are a $5 billion P.R. budget
and the near-total acquiescence of all the major media companies, some of whom happen to be
the Pentagon's biggest contractors?

Does the fact that the country is basically barred from seeing dead bodies on TV, or the fact that
an embedded reporter in a war zone literally cannot take a shit without a military attaché at his
side (I'm not joking: while embedded at Camp Liberty in Iraq, I had to be escorted from my bunk
to the latrine) really provide the working general with the security and peace of mind he needs to
do his job effectively?

Apparently not, according to Lara Logan. Apparently in addition to all of this, reporters must also
help out these poor public relations underdogs in the Pentagon by adhering to an "unspoken
agreement" not to embarrass the brass, should they tilt back a few and jam their feet into their
own mouths in front of a reporter holding a microphone in front of their faces.

Then there's the part that made me really furious: Logan hinting that Hastings lied about the
damaging material being on the record:
"Michael Hastings, if you believe him, says that there were no ground rules laid out. And, I mean,
that just doesn't really make a lot of sense to me… I mean, I know these people. They never let
their guard down like that. To me, something doesn't add up here. I just — I don't believe it."

I think the real meaning of that above quote is made clear in conjunction with this one: "There
are very good beat reporters who have been covering these wars for years, year after year. Michael
Hastings appeared in Baghdad fairly late on the scene, and he was there for a significant period of
time. He has his credentials, but he's not the only one. There are a lot of very good reporters out
there. And to be fair to the military, if they believe that a piece is balanced, they will let you back."

Let me just say one thing quickly: I don't know Michael Hastings. I've never met him and he's not
a friend of mine. If he cut me off in a line in an airport, I'd probably claw his eyes out like I would
with anyone else. And if you think I'm being loyal to him because he works for Rolling Stone,
well – let's just say my co-workers at the Stone would laugh pretty hard at that idea.

But when I read this diatribe from Logan, I felt like I'd known Hastings my whole life. Because
brother, I have been there, when some would-be "reputable" journalist who's just been severely
ass-whipped by a relative no-name freelancer on an enormous story fights back by going on
television and, without any evidence at all, accusing the guy who beat him of cheating. That's
happened to me so often, I've come to expect it. If there's a lower form of life on the planet earth
than a "reputable" journalist protecting his territory, I haven't seen it.

As to this whole "unspoken agreement" business: the reason Lara Logan thinks this is because
she's like pretty much every other "reputable" journalist in this country, in that she suffers from
a profound confusion about who she's supposed to be working for. I know this from my years
covering presidential campaigns, where the same dynamic applies. Hey, assholes: you do not
work for the people you're covering! Jesus, is this concept that fucking hard? On the campaign
trail, I watch reporters nod solemnly as they hear about the hundreds of millions of dollars
candidates X and Y and Z collect from the likes of Citigroup and Raytheon and Archer Daniels
Midland, and it blows my mind that they never seem to connect the dots and grasp where all that
money is going. The answer, you idiots, is that it's buying advertising! People like George Bush,
John McCain, Barack Obama, and General McChrystal for that matter, they can afford to buy
their own P.R. — and they do, in ways both honest and dishonest, visible and invisible.

They don't need your help, and you're giving it to them anyway, because you just want to be part
of the club so so badly. Disgustingly, that's really what it comes down to. Most of these reporters
just want to be inside the ropeline so badly, they want to be able to say they had that beer with
Hillary Clinton in a bowling alley in Scranton or whatever, that it colors their whole worldview.
God forbid some important person think you're not playing for the right team!

Meanwhile, the people who don't have the resources to find out the truth and get it out in front of
the public's eyes, your readers/viewers, you're supposed to be working for them — and they're not
getting your help. What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan? Is it worth all the bloodshed and
the hatred? Who are the people running this thing, what is their agenda, and is that agenda the
same thing we voted for? By the severely unlikely virtue of a drunken accident we get a tiny
glimpse of an answer to some of these vital questions, but instead of cheering this as a great
break for our profession, a waytago moment, one so-called reputable journalist after another
lines up to protest the leak and attack the reporter for doing his job. God, do you all suck!
 2206 LIKE THIS 27 COMMENTS SHARE :

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COMMENTS (27) Sort by:

 184 LIKE
bystander
June 28, 2010 11:54 P.M. EDT

Standing on a chair; cheering and clapping wildly... Well said.

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74 LIKE
dlm76
June 28, 2010 11:52 P.M. EDT

Didn't Lara Logan have sex with a soldier while reporting during the Iraq war? LOL
Anything that woman has to say is gibberish. I would turn to Fox News before I turned to
anything that woman has to say. Lara, you do suck... I am sure your hubby has
brainwashed you with his miliatary propaganda. Btw...Read More

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124 LIKE
filament
June 28, 2010 11:58 P.M. EDT

Brilliantly said. I note that she's married to a defense contractor. Because being
figuratively in bed with the topic you're covering apparently wasn't enough for her.

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32 LIKE
bubba74
June 29, 2010 4:55 P.M. EDT

Well....Now I guess we know how she got to be the "chief" foreign correspondent. And how
she got those rug burns on her knees! Keep up the great work, Matt. Keep reminding
everyone what good journalism is all about. You're the best!

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41 LIKE
Compudoc
June 29, 2010 5:14 P.M. EDT

This is a great article which, unfortunately, dispels the myth to a degree that journalists are
supposed to be neutral. Ms. Logan's marriage, background, and conduct bring an
unacceptable bias to her reporting and casts a pall over CBS News. I won't be watching her
or them for a long time.

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36 LIKE
Starjack
June 30, 2010 9:56 A.M. EDT

Sure, a lot of the so-called reporters are lazy sycophants who just want to be part of the
club and simply regurgitate press releases rather than do real work, but your earlier point
is the more essential and explains why the network hires these preppy suck-ups instead of
real journalists. The major...Read More

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38 LIKE
amy c.
June 30, 2010 10:11 A.M. EDT

I agree with the substance of what you say, Matt. What I don't dig at all is the dickswinging
bullshit spit-on-the-girl manner in which you say it. Stick to the substance and lose the
testosterone-fuelled frothing at the mouth. You've lost some credibility with me by doing
it.

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13 LIKE
Larry_Signor
June 30, 2010 9:59 A.M. EDT

Matt, Glad to see you are back in top form. The stupidity has been deafening lately. It's
good that you can translate Logan. I found her statements incomprehensible, I think she
doin' 'ludes again. How about Geraldodo Rivera? http://www.mediaite.com/tv/geraldo-
rivera-likens-rolling-stones-michael-ha...Read More

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15 LIKE
GloggPixie
June 30, 2010 11:43 A.M. EDT

A few weeks ago while surfing past CNN I heard the anchor say "Sir, we can only report
what the government tells us." The anchor! Had kind of hoped it was just a poorly-worded
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