News correspondent launches defamation case against magazine and writer
A star news correspondent has launched a multimillion-dollar legal case over a “sexist, insulting and defamatory” article about her.
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Former prominent US 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan is seeking $US25 million ($36 million) in a defamation suit filed against writer Joe Hagan and New York Media for a piece published five years ago entitled Benghazi and the Bombshell.
The New York Magazine story stemmed from a 60 Minutes broadcast on October 27, 2013 about an attack on a US government diplomatic compound in 2012 in Libya that killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Logan’s piece was ultimately retracted when it turned out one of the on-the-record subjects, a British security contract named Dylan Davies, had lied about his actions that night.
Logan was not the only one fooled.
Simon & Schuster – which, like 60 Minutes, is owned by CBS – was forced to recall Mr Davies’ book The Embassy House when it turned out his account of that night was discredited.
Seven months after the 60 Minutes piece aired, Hagan published a story Logan’s suit now claims contained “false and defamatory statements” that “caused substantial harm to Logan’s personal and professional reputations”.
“The headline reference to ‘Bombshell’ was both sexist, insulting and defamatory at the same time,” the suit contends.
“The word was intended to portray Logan as a dangerous and untouchable and incendiary reporter.”
Hagan wrote at the time that “Logan’s star power blinded her superiors to her flaws” and that she was placed on 60 Minutes by CBS’ then-boss Les Moonves, who resigned in 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations.
Logan said she apologised for her “mistake” regarding Mr Davies on CBS This Morning in November 2013, but that key parts of the story held up.
She claims 60 Minutes’ decision to pull the story “was motivated by politics”.
Despite the fallout from the retracted story, Logan says she was slowly making her way back into the good graces of 60 Minutes – until Hagan’s article hit in May 2014.
“The plan for Logan’s return to 60 Minutes was entirely and completely derailed after publication of the Hagan Hit Piece,” the suit claims.
Among the false statements, she says, was a gang rape she suffered in Egypt while on assignment, which Hagan characterised as a “groping”.
Logan’s salary suffered as a result, said the lawsuit.
At the time the story hit, she was getting paid $US2.15 million ($A3,122,875), up from $US1.9 million ($A2,759,750) in 2012-2013, the lawsuit said.
Under a new contract she signed in August 2015, she was paid only $US750,000 ($A1,089,375) to produce up to six original segments as a part-time correspondent in a deal that was to last three years.
“But for the Hagan Hit Piece, Logan would have earned more than $US2,150,000 ($A3,122,875) per year as a 60 Minutes correspondent,” the suit claims.
“She was young and extremely talented. She expected to work for CBS indefinitely.”
Despite the pay cut, Logan continued to produce segments including The Battle for Mosul in November 2016 but was snubbed on other important stories, she said.
Her last 60 Minutes report, Saving Rhino with Helicopters, aired on July 22, 2018.
Hagan, who is now a special correspondent with Vanity Fair, did not return calls, but New York Media said it was standing by the story.
“The New York Magazine article was thoroughly vetted and fact-checked, and we stand by our reporting,” said a New York Media spokeswoman.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as News correspondent launches defamation case against magazine and writer