Egypt - Reporter Victim of Brutal Sexual Assault in Cairo, FEB 2011

I don't get the attacks on the media. Don't these people need media coverage to help their cause? Or is this the old govt attacking the media?

Poor Lara. I hope she is able to move on from this traumatic experience.

SuziQ said:

I don't get the attacks on the media. Don't these people need media coverage to help their cause? Or is this the old govt attacking the media?

Poor Lara. I hope she is able to move on from this traumatic experience.

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This happened on the day that Mubarak stepped down and I feel certain that there were still some people in the crowds that were pro-Mubarak supporters. Before stepping down Mubarak had his supporters doing their best to implicate both the US and Israel as being behind the protests in any way possible. They even stole vehicles from the US Embassy and then used them to run over protesters in an attempt to implicate the US. From what I have seen on various message boards it appears that not all Egyptians are happy about his stepping down although I believe that they are in the minority. As with all large groups of people, you will always have a few bad apples that will attempt to take advantage of things during a period of chaos, and it may have been some of these types who attacked her. Thank god for the Egyptian women and the Egyptian soldiers who stepped in to stop the attack and rescue her. I wish her a full and speedy recovery.

This is so sad. I pray she has a speedy physical recovery and will be okay.

I am livid that an American citizen was subjected to that treatment and abuse.
I am just as furious that our news media thinks they have the right to be in the middle of everything with zero consequences. We had no business being in the thick of the mobs there.
CBS is just as at fault for having her there, even Couric had the sense to get out of there.

With all of that, my most sincere hope is that she recovers fully.

Charlie09 said:

I am livid that an American citizen was subjected to that treatment and abuse.
I am just as furious that our news media thinks they have the right to be in the middle of everything with zero consequences. We had no business being in the thick of the mobs there.
CBS is just as at fault for having her there, even Couric had the sense to get out of there.

With all of that, my most sincere hope is that she recovers fully.

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Sorry but I don't see it that way. People in the media, especially foreign correspondents, are well aware of the risks and dangers they may be exposed to in their chosen profession. Without their dedication we would not have access to a lot of news including the situation in Egypt. The foreign media exposure in Egypt IMO helped put pressure on Mubarak to finally step down. If there were no media there to document what Mubarak was doing, do you really think he would have stepped down or that there would not have been a blood bath for the protesters. Think of Iran and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent remarks about "shooting the protest leaders". As an aside, the reporter worked for an American media outlet but she is actually from South Africa. I am livid that any woman was attacked on the streets of Egypt, be she Egyptian, British, American or otherwise.

Apparently, there were so many ignorant, victim-blaming comments on CNN and Yahoo, that they both had to disable their comments section. That speaks volumes to me. I can't even imagine how many people---men and women---think that she "deserved it" because she went to a dangerous country or that it's no surprise it happened because she's pretty. And we wonder why people don't report rape. -_- There are way too many people who think that rape is no different than sex; it makes me sick. It's frustrating that so many people have the attitude of, "Look how un-PC I'm being!" when it comes to a serious situation.

This is a sickening crime to me, and had nothing to do with this young woman's job, but was rather an act of brutality against a victim unable to defend herself, against something no one would be able to defend against. She had nothing to do with what these "men" did to her.

The shocking part, to me, is that CBS didn't have better security in place. I'm a male with dark hair and dark eyes, and being in that mob would've been an intimidating experience for me. The only city I've been in where a bona fide mob happened was in Seoul, South Korea. There was a protest against the United States military, it was massive, and as an American I stayed in my apartment in a distant neighborhood.

While being a blonde female in Western attire certainly doesn't justify the attack, it definitely made the risk of it happening much higher than if, say, Fareed Zakharia of CNN had been reporting and they should've given her a much, much larger security detail.

I hope she does not contract any diseases as a result of this attack...

I'm outraged too. Outraged that the majority of the outrage is because she is young, blond, and American. She is one victim, and while what happened to her is terrible, how many others did it happen to during the protests, others that will never have anyone to pray for them, and won't get the benefit of American hospitals to help them recover? Hundreds is probably a low estimate. I am outraged that we (as a society, not as WS'ers) care more about this woman because she was "from here" and the countless other silent victims were "from there."

Alternately, I am also outraged at the number of people that don't understand the sacrifice made by international correspondents, both when something of this nature happens and when it doesn't. The time away from their families, from their homeland, must be horrible, and when a crime is committed and or a tragedy occurs, this is the thanks they get? She no more deserved this than did any of the other victims that had the same or worse happen to them.

First: I don't think she should have been there - I'm not one who thinks just because a man can do it a woman can - those types of countries and conflicts ARE more dangerous for women. Other male reporters were beaten too, but the risks for women being treated harshly make me think it's just not where they should be. CBS should be liable for sending her there.

Second: what is considered sexual assault? I am just curious as to what extent touching becomes a sexual assault. They aren't giving any details so I can't tell if she was actually raped or groped or what. I know you are going to say it doesn't make any difference, but then again, it might be considered just getting roughed up if done male on male (if it were a battery type thing) or it could be a very serious sexual assault. There are wide ranges to these things and the media hype bothers me with the lack of detail on what was done to her. I know...her privacy and all but for gosh sakes she's a reporter, on TV. We should not be left to infer from so little information.

not_my_kids said:

I'm outraged too. Outraged that the majority of the outrage is because she is young, blond, and American. She is one victim, and while what happened to her is terrible, how many others did it happen to during the protests, others that will never have anyone to pray for them, and won't get the benefit of American hospitals to help them recover? Hundreds is probably a low estimate. I am outraged that we (as a society, not as WS'ers) care more about this woman because she was "from here" and the countless other silent victims were "from there."

Alternately, I am also outraged at the number of people that don't understand the sacrifice made by international correspondents, both when something of this nature happens and when it doesn't. The time away from their families, from their homeland, must be horrible, and when a crime is committed and or a tragedy occurs, this is the thanks they get? She no more deserved this than did any of the other victims that had the same or worse happen to them.

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Totally get what you're saying NMK and I would NEVER blame her or any other victim - no matter their physical appearance.

That said, as a woman and a WS'er, I am ultra aware of where I should and shouldn't go in my own city. I understand she was covering a huge and historical story, but in doing so, she was in the midst of a very volatile and potentially dangerous environment. There should have been sufficient safety nets in place - not only for her, but for her entire team. That obviously wasn't the case and this woman paid a huge price.

I am grateful for the foreign correspondents that report these world changing events daily. But I would never ask any of them to place themselves in harm's way just so I can see it on the news. Ever. And shame on anyone who does. Not everything is about ratings and money.

ziggy said:

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I know...her privacy and all but for gosh sakes she's a reporter, on TV. We should not be left to infer from so little information.

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I respectfully and totally disagree. As a reporter, she is a public figure when it comes to reporting the news - but it ends there. She is a private citizen who was attacked and we have no right to know anything more. It's her life, it's her body. She doesn't need to be victimized all over again by having the details put out there for the world to see/know. Guessing what happened is one thing, knowing is another.

JMHO

belimom said:

I respectfully and totally disagree. As a reporter, she is a public figure when it comes to reporting the news - but it ends there. She is a private citizen who was attacked and we have no right to know anything more. It's her life, it's her body. She doesn't need to be victimized all over again by having the details put out there for the world to see/know. Guessing what happened is one thing, knowing is another.

JMHO

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http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/cbs_reporter_cairo_nightmare_pXiUVvhwIDdCrbD95ybD5N

Most network higher-ups didn't even know how brutal the sexual assault was until a few minutes before the statement went out.

"We were surprised it stayed quiet" as long as it did, one source said.

Another source insisted that Logan was "involved in the process" of deciding whether to make her attack public, and ultimately understood why the statement had to be released.

The horrific incident came a week after the 39-year-old reporter was temporarily detained by Egyptian police amid tensions over foreign coverage of the country's growing

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/intern...ightmare_pXiUVvhwIDdCrbD95ybD5N#ixzz1EBkmfYQF

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Charlie09 said:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/cbs_reporter_cairo_nightmare_pXiUVvhwIDdCrbD95ybD5N

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Charlie, I had read that as well and I'm sure she did had a say so as to how much info was released. I think the words "sexual assault" are being used b/c that's all she wants the public to know -- and that's her prerogative. My response above was that we as the public don't need to know or have a right to know any more than she wants to tell... I think we all know what happened - but I don't think she wants to come out and give the details.

It take a special kind of person to be a foreign correspondent that covers what is known in the business as "hard news" covering wars, riots, danger and bloodshed. Lara Logan is one of those people and she loves what she does. CBS telling Lara that Egypt was too dangerous because she was a woman, would have been like NASCAR telling Danica Patrick that she could not race because she was a woman and might be hurt in a wreck. I do not hold CBS in any way responsible for what happened to her and I doubt that Lara does either. The only people responsible for what happened to her are the men that attacked her, period. For those wondering about the size of the security detail let me say that contrary to what most people think, if she and her crew had been accompanied by a larger security detail it would only have attracted more attention, making them more of a target, and increased the danger to all of them. You definitely have to be somewhat of an adrenalin junkie to do this type of work. I know this because my brother spent over 35 years covering "hard news" as a cameraman and photographer for various news outlets in hot spots all over the world. The dangers and risks are actually part of what attracts them to the job. If Lara had not been employed by CBS then she probably would still have been there working freelance or for another media outlet on the story. No one makes them do what they do; they do it because they love it. I have no desire to know the sordid details but based on the following article I would say that she was indeed very seriously injured as a result of the attack. I wish her a full and speedy recovery and hope that she is able to return to her job soon, as she has already vowed to do.

"When war reporter Lara Logan's co-workers learned that she had to be hospitalized after being attacked in Egypt, they knew it was serious.
Logan, CBS's chief foreign correspondent, is known as much for her toughness as for her good looks, so it was clear things were bad.
"She's not a wimpy, girly girl -- she had a pocket for lipstick sewn into her flak jacket as a joke," one source told The Post yesterday.
Riots, bloodshed and even physical attacks have been part of Logan's job for years, and colleagues said she relishes her role as being a seasoned reporter in the world's worst war-torn areas."

Nothing will keep Lara Logan from doing her job.
The CBS war correspondent who is back home with her kids and recovering after being brutally attacked last week in Egypt has vowed to return to work "within weeks."

Melly53 said:

CBS telling Lara that Egypt was too dangerous because she was a woman, would have been like NASCAR telling Danica Patrick that she could not race because she was a woman and might be hurt in a wreck.

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That analogy doesn't work because the danger of Danica Patrick wrecking and getting hurt is no higher than the male drivers. However, reporting in a mob in Egypt is considerably more dangerous for a blonde female Western journalist in Western attire than it is for a male Al Jazeera reporter.

Melly53 said:

I do not hold CBS in any way responsible for what happened to her and I doubt that Lara does either. The only people responsible for what happened to her are the men that attacked her, period. For those wondering about the size of the security detail let me say that contrary to what most people think, if she and her crew had been accompanied by a larger security detail it would only have attracted more attention, making them more of a target, and increased the danger to all of them.

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Well-trained, Arabic speaking, plain-clothed, Arab male security guards would have blended in and wouldn't have drawn attention.

My sister works for one of the large banks and frequently does assignments overseas. She was in Hyderabad, India recently and her bank always assigned her and their other employees quite a lot of security. Their guards weren't a bunch of Blackwater types. They were well-trained local professionals.

I was shocked at how Jewish-American reporter Debbie Schlussel ridiculed Lara Logan for being brutally sexually assaulted.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/debbie-schlussel-i-hope-lara-logan-enjoyed-her-liberation/