Lara Logan has been ordered by CBS to take a leave of absence, a month after the “60 Minutes” correspondent ran a report featuring a witness of the Benghazi attack whose claims of being on the scene were later disputed. Logan’s producer, Max McClellan, was also asked to take a leave as well, according to the Associated Press via Yahoo News:
The show relied on an interview with a security contractor who said he was at the U.S. mission in Libya the night it was attacked last year, but questions were raised about whether the source was lying. A CBS internal report obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday found the network did a poor job vetting the story.CBS Chairman Jeff Fager, who is also the “60 Minutes” executive producer, said he asked Logan and her producer, Max McClellan, to take a leave of absence. The length of time wasn’t determined.
Logan had also been scheduled this week to host the International Press Freedom Awards Dinner to benefit the Committee to Protect Journalists, but will no longer be doing so, according to Politico. Instead, Logan’s “60 Minutes” colleague Scott Pelley will be hosting.
The October 27th program on “60 Minutes” drew criticism after its airing, as other news outlets challenged the veracity of the on-scene claims of Dylan Davies, a.k.a. Morgan Jones, leading to an apology and eventual retraction of this portion of the program from CBS. The publisher of the book written by Davies, “The Embassy House: The Explosive Eyewitness Account of the Libyan Embassy Siege by the Soldier Who Was There,” also later withdrew the publication.
UPDATE 11/26/2013 6:10pm ET:
View the full CBS internal review, courtesy of Mediaite.
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