Correction: Was '60 Minutes' Reporter Lara Logan Raped in Egypt?

Categories: Sex Crimes

Lara_Logan_244x183.jpg
CBS News
The photo of Logan used in the original release, "moments before she was attacked" in Tahrir Square
Update: "Lara Logan Confirms She Was Brutally and Repeatedly Raped in Egypt: Why Did the Media Think She Wasn't?"

Was CBS news correspondent Lara Logan raped?

The issue arose four weeks ago, when the Wall Street Journal reported that an anonymous source "familiar with the matter" told them Logan was sexually assaulted, but not raped, during the lengthy attack she suffered in Cairo amid celebrations after the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The LA Weekly reported earlier in the day on February 15 that Logan had been raped, based on language in a press release from CBS. The CBS release said Logan had suffered a "brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating."

But did the attack constitute rape? The legal definition of rape is penetration with any object, to any extent -- the most extreme form of sexual assault. Experts on legal language have since informed us that CBS' description of the incident implies repeated rape, but the Weekly has not been able to determine what occurred. CBS declines all further comment.

Therefore, we conclude that we erroneously interpreted CBS' report of what happened to Logan on February 11, 2011.

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

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21 comments
4freak.pl
4freak.pl

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Jonnym127
Jonnym127

Why send a beautiful blond in the middle of men demonstrating in Thahir square ???Americans are naive about the status of women who are immodestly dressed.Ms. Logan claims to be sexually assaulted ? Is this a ploy to highlight herdistress ??? Let's stop this; CBS should next time evaluate the risk of sendingsomeone into harm's way.

Ciaran Macaoidh
Ciaran Macaoidh

What a disgusting post! "A ploy"? She was there to do her job and would not expect to be raped in such a public environment.

Ge0rge
Ge0rge

"She said she had escaped being raped because of the intervention of a group of women who threw themselves on top of her, protecting her from further harm.

Egyptian soldiers, she said, also came to her aid and escorted her back to her hotel".

http://www.iol.co.za/news/afri...

deeqe
deeqe

But it made for a good story.

I admire the author's restraint in not including the word "sodomized" in the headline.

007
007

Therefore, we conclude that we erroneously interpreted CBS' report of what happened to Logan "on February 11, 2011."

Therefore, you have shown you have zero credibility, sincerity, or journalistic integrity.

Trashy site. Trashy reporter. Pure trash.

Julia
Julia

Wow, a month later you issue this half-assed correction. You should also correct that other glaring lie that you are perpetuating - that this tabloid rag is disseminating real news.

Top Notch
Top Notch

From what little I've seen attributed to authoritative sources on this subject, it sounds like she in fact was not raped (in the clinical sense of the word) but was instead punched, sexually assaulted (groped roughly), stripped of her clothing and beaten with one or more of those little wooden flag poles that were in such great abundance in Tahrir Square that night.

Given the prevailing customs in that part of the world I would read the latter as saying that she was caned. A caning can be best described as a spanking on steroids.

Little wonder then that CBS's Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent would prefer that the details of this assault not be publicized or discussed.

pissed
pissed

this is fine and all, but you, Simone Wilson, need to also issue an apology for your incendiary tone in the original piece

John McNary
John McNary

You are a reprehensible toad of a journalist, Simone.

You should have apologized, immediately. Instead you prevaricated, and delayed.

"We conclude that we erroneously ..."

If that came out a politician's mouth, you would boil him in oil.

You make me sick.

Art Holland
Art Holland

Simone Wilson's handling of this story was shameful, unprofessional, offensive. If I were Lara Logan's family, I would be seeking any avenue to sue her not only blaming the victim by focusing so much attention on Logan's looks and behavior, but also not apologizing for it (and LA Weekly editors should be ashamed for not apologizing or demanding that Wilson apologize). Obviously, lawsuits against journalists are almost never successful, but still, they could shame her publicly. Shame on Simone Wilson and LA Weekly. Best wishes to Lara Logan, please know that the LA Weekly's shameful behavior is not a reflection of the way Los Angeles residents view the awful tragedy that you endured while doing what REAL reporters do - reporting on important events, even in the face of danger, so that the public may be well informed. Unlike Simone Wilson, a hack who stands on the sidelines and unapologeticaly makes snarky commentary about this tragic incident from the comfort of her desk thousands of miles away.

Mathersdon
Mathersdon

I agree, the first write up about it was peppered with bullshit like "blond bombshell", sexy this and that, "her rape", then some bullshit about "if there were no laws against it I would totally rape her". I really hope i mis read that last thing but I am not going to waste my time reading that first write up again. The second one is kind of tasteless too.

Is this a real LA newspaper? Seems almost like a joke, a very mean joke.

Disappointed
Disappointed

1. Although the WSJ is a well respected news source, They have not properly backed up their statement with any actual facts other than that they received the information from an anonymous source.2. Your own statement is that the legal language used in CBS' description of the incident implies repeated rape. The operative word is "implies"3.There is no evidence overtly available, that discounts factually, that rape was not part of the attack.Conclusion: LA Weekly should not have issued a correction at this time. LA Weekly it appears is caving into pressure from the Main Stream Media and probably from other sources as well. I am sorry to see that however, I am not suprised. The pressure to issue this correction must have been intense. It is disappointing that there seems to be no one left that has the courage to actually report something without fear of the possible consequences.

Ge0rge
Ge0rge

There is direct evidence - Lara's own statement in her native press that she was NOT raped.

Ciaran Macaoidh
Ciaran Macaoidh

You are as wrong on this as Wilson was.

Ge0rge
Ge0rge

Cannot make any sense from this comment. What am I wrong on?

Jimmy James
Jimmy James

One month and 944 comments later. LA Weekly, you guys are the best. Can I suggest Bill Plashke to join Dennis Romero and Simone Wilson for a 3 Stooges of alternative weeklies?

Think, people, THINK!
Think, people, THINK!

American Heritage dictionary:

RAPE:NOUN:1) The crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. 2) The act of seizing and carrying off by force; abduction. 3) Abusive or improper treatment; violation: "a rape of justice."

Seeing how she was forced to submit to a "sustained sexual assualt", her experience is covered by defintion 1. Seeing how she was held and received a "brutal beating" until a group of women and the police were able to rescue her, her experience is covered by definition 2. Seeing how she survived a "brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating", her experience is covered by definition 3.

Perhaps you should get a dictionary, Ms. Wilson. And after you've done that ask your "legal experts" why they think CBS used the terminology "brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating" for a crime that occured in Egypt, where there is no precise or specific definition for rape. Maybe CBS was ensuring should a video or pictures surface of the event, Ms. Logan would have legal grounds for charges against the men. Lawyers for the defense now cannot say, "CBS, a representative of Lara Logan said she was raped! There is no definition of rape in Egypt! How can something occur in Egypt when there is no definition of such a thing?" "Legal experts" that don't even think of the WHY the terminology was used in GLOBAL context, aren't really "experts" now, are they?

Report the truth
Report the truth

Why issue this response now? Is this because the mainstream media PC police are trying to ignore what from the legal statement from CBS and you even can conclude and I can believe by the media blackout her silence and lack of interviews of any eyewitnesses can conclude she was raped. You seriously believe that with as big as that Mob was how come no one in the Arab media has commented to what happened? CBS Issued that statement for if and when the eventual video evidence of the rape goes to internet. I think her silence and the general lack of investigative reporting already confirms what even CBS stated in the original statement this rape went on for a long period of time and they beat her brutally.

Syndicate
Syndicate

No matter what happened to Lara Logan, I hope she gets better, and somehow is enjoying her downtime. Logan's always been so lucky in wars, and yet in a jubilant moment like that is where she brushes against death. I hope she's as lucky in peace as she has been in war going forward. Nobody deserves what happened to her. Well, maybe Osama or Kim Jong-il or something but its a pretty small list and she isn't on it. Just sad.

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