Lara Logan is considered to be one of the most interesting television journalists of today. Logan’s brand of journalism is fearless, incredibly so to some people. Since the 11 September attacks in the US, she has worked in some very difficult and dangerous situations, reporting from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Though Lara Logan is currently a foreign correspondent for the CBS network in the US, this is not her home turf. She was born in South Africa, where she began her career in the late 1980s, working as a reporter for the South African Daily News, and the Sunday Tribune, while she was still attending college at the University of Natal. She has a definite flare for languages, which helps her report on an international scale. She can fluently speak French, Afrikaans, and English, which allowed her to make the jump from South African news organization like its branch of Reuters, where Logan worked until 1996, to many freelance assignments in London. In 2002, Logan joined CBS news, and has appeared on special evening news reports, and programs like 60 Minutes.
Logan’s work earns high praise from her media contemporaries. She has earned an Emmy for a report on Ramadi featured on the CBS Evening News and numerous other journalism awards. While her style of reporting is considered in-depth, and her delivery excellent, others look to her willingness to insert herself into some of the most dangerous situations in the quest for news. Many note that an incongruity exists between Logan's beauty queen looks and her willingness to take on risky assignments, which she does with regularity.
Some of her work since US engagement in Afghanistan includes interviews with General Babajan, part of the Afghani fighters engaged in defeating the Taliban. Lara Logan has also spent time as an embedded journalist, traveling with military units. She is especially noted for her work in Ramadi, Iraq, and her reporting captured the aftermath of serious conflict on Haifa Street in Baghdad, where in two incidents in January 2007, 80 people were killed.
CBS refused to air Logan’s report on television, but did give people access to it on the Internet. Logan begged people to watch it, link to it, and share it with others. In the report, Lara Logan interviews several Iraqi citizens who speak out in opposition against the American presence in their country. The video is still available online but it does contain some graphic violent content. It nevertheless provided a counterargument to the American stance expressed by then President Bush and many of his cabinet members, that Iraqi citizens were overjoyed with American presence.
When Lara Logan is not in the field, which is seldom, she makes her home in London. She is married to former UK basketball player Jason Siemon. Those watching her career with avid interest compare her to Christiane Amanpour, and believe she will continue to be a major force in field journalism for many years to come.
