Lara Logan
Posted on 05/22/2002 11:58:39 AM PDT by Timesink
Logan quits GMTV for America
Owen Gibson
Wednesday May 22, 2002
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Lara Logan |
The 31-year-old South African is leaving to join CBS after her reports from the frontline in Afghanistan impressed US news bosses.
According to sources she clinched the deal in the last week.
"This is an absolutely brilliant move for Lara. It's very exciting and will give her a chance to prove herself in one of the toughest TV markets," said one GMTV insider.
Logan will front 60 Minutes Two, a sister programme to the prestigious current affairs slot, as part of a deal said to be worth around £500,000.
She will also be asked to report for primetime news shows alongside celebrity anchorman Dan Rather and will leave GMTV next week.
The deal is a major blow to GMTV, which gave Logan her first big break in British TV and was grooming her for greater things.
She recently took a "reporter at large" role for the station, presented a series of five roaming reports from southern Africa and was due to present a further series of special reports later this year.
Logan shot to prominence in the aftermath of September 11, when she flew out to Afghanistan and got closer to the frontline action than the armies of more experienced ITN, BBC and CNN correspondents on duty.
She also hit the headlines when ITN's Asia correspondent, Julian Manyon, described her as "delectable" and said her "considerable physical charms" had helped her overcome Taliban bureaucracy.
Logan hit back in an article on MediaGuardian.co.uk, expressing surprise that Manyon used that "hoary old chestnut" about women's looks as an excuse for not getting access to the frontline.
She said Manyon was stationed miles away from the airbase and relied on her for help with her stories.
A former model, Logan's good looks made her a darling of the tabloid newspapers.
Ironically the Sun newspaper today reports that Logan deliberately used her good looks to get exclusives out of the Royal Marines in Afghanistan.
In a front page splash today headlined "Put Those Bazookas Away, Lara", the Sun says she was accused of distracting American and British troops by wearing low-cut tops. It says two soldiers made official complaints about her dress code.
One source was quoted saying: "She spent most of her time wearing very tight jeans and tops with spaghetti-style straps."
But a furious Logan hit back, telling the Sun: "I don't wear outfits like that at home, so why would I wear them out in Afghanistan?"
She admitted she had been told to cover her arms in the galley because of a "hygiene issue".
Hey, that's my line!
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