This article titled “Egyptian activists condemn brutal attack on CBS reporter in Tahrir Square” was written by Jack Shenker in Cairo, for The Guardian on Thursday 17th February 2011 01.37 UTC

Women’s rights activists and pro-change protesters in Egypt have rallied to condemn a serious sexual assault on an American news reporter, Lara Logan, which took place in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in the moments following Hosni Mubarak’s resignation last Friday.

“Lara Logan … and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration,” Logan’s employers, CBS news, said in a brief statement. “It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.

“In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers.”

Logan, a 39-year-old foreign correspondent, had previously been detained by the Egyptian police while covering the anti-government uprising. She has now flown back to the US and is “recovering at home”, CBS said. The incident has provoked a storm of comment in both the Egyptian and American blogospheres, with many protesters in Cairo keen to show that Logan’s attackers were not representative of the pro-change crowds.

“It’s incredibly sad that this has happened, and it’s something that the spirit of Tahrir and the spirit of revolution was resolutely against,” Ahdaf Soueif, an author who spent a great deal of time in Tahrir Square, told the Guardian. “Women in the square were rejoicing that they felt freedom on the streets of Cairo for the first time, and [this is] definitely something that we want to stamp out alongside corruption and all the other social ills that have befallen Egypt during Mubarak’s regime.”

Mahmoud Salem, a well known Egyptian blogger, was one of many 25 January activists to express outrage. “Lara Logan, what happened to you was reprehensible, I hope u don’t judge the egyptian people or Tahrir because of it,” he tweeted under his moniker Sandmonkey.

Some activists have suggested that the assault was the work of pro-Mubarak gangs, whose use of sexual harassment as an intimidation tactic was extensively documented during the revolution, as was their targeting of foreign reporters.

But the investigation and prosecution of sexual harassment cases is already low in Egypt, and the detention of those responsible amid the country’s current institutional turmoil appears unlikely.

The harassment of women on the streets has long been a major issue in Egyptian society, although efforts to curb the problem have often met resistance from government officials.

Scepticism about the extent of the harassment extended as far as the former first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, who once accused the media of exaggerating the problem to tarnish the country’s reputation.

A survey by the independent Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights in 2008, however, revealed that 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women had been exposed to some form of sexual harassment, including groping, verbal abuse, stalking and indecent exposure.

Contrary to popular opinion, the incidents did not appear to be linked to the woman’s style of dress, as three-quarters of victims had been veiled at the time.

Throughout the 18 days of mass unrest that brought millions to Tahrir Square, many women reported that the level of sexual harassment there was far lower than they had expected. Protesters maintained a disciplined internal security system and, apart from clashes with police and pro-Mubarak militants, no violence was recorded inside the square.

“We Egyptian youth are so proud of this revolution, and the first thing we will do is demand that all people stop sexual harassment,” said Marwa Mokhtar, a women’s rights campaigner. “This is our country now, not Mubarak’s country, and we will not allow harassment to continue in the new Egypt.”

An Egyptian Facebook group set up to condemn the attack on Logan carried similar sentiments. “We should have continued guarding Tahrir even in the day of celebration,” posted Ahmad Fahmy, a pro-change demonstrator. “I don’t know what to say. Nothing we can do or say can make up for what happened. I guess for now I can just say ‘Sorry’ to Lara and for all women Egyptians or non-Egyptians who were harassed or assaulted in Egypt before.”

Another group of bloggers set up an online petition headlined “Walk Free! Stop Sexual Harassment in Egypt & Apology to Lara Logan“.

The White House said that President Barack Obama had called Logan on Wednesday but gave no details of the call. In the US, debate over Logan’s assault has been fierce, after some commentators made light of the incident.

Nir Rosen, an American journalist, was forced to resign from his fellowship at New York University following a series of posts on Twitter which drew jokey comparisons between Logan and CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper, who was assaulted by thugs in Egypt earlier this month, claiming “it would have been funny if it happened to Anderson too”. He has since apologised for the remarks.

Rightwing blogger Debbie Schlussel also drew ire, after a post on her website blamed Logan herself for the attack.

“So sad, too bad, Lara,” wrote Schlussel. “No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows …”

Her words were met with a chorus of objections and outrage online. “Lara Logan’s assault is horrifying, but shouldn’t be an excuse for the rightwing to twist this into a story about Arab misogyny,” argued the Democracy Now correspondent Anjali Kamat on Twitter.

An article published in the Colombia Journalism Review in 2007 claimed that the sexual abuse of female foreign correspondents is under-reported because many victims do not come forward for fear of losing out on future assignments.

“In the mounting rhetoric, what is getting lost is the fact that a reporter has been sexually assaulted,” said Laila Lalami in the Nation magazine. “[By coming forward] Lara Logan has broken a powerful taboo.”

Heather Blake, of Reporters Without Borders, said that the incident should not be used to prevent female correspondents from going out into the field.

“Female journalists have distinct voices to male journalists and it is vital that those very different concerns and outlooks continue to be heard,” she argued. “The attack on Lara Logan highlights the fact that there needs to be gender-specific protection and training of journalists.

“At the moment, female and male journalists have the same training. The truth is that female journalists need to be taught about different cultures and the ways in which men behave in those cultures. They need to know about gender-specific expectations in different countries, from what they wear to how they interact with those they met.”

Paul Steiger, chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, of which Logan is a board member, said: “We have seen Lara’s compassion at work while helping journalists who have faced brutal aggression while doing their jobs. She is a brilliant, courageous, and committed reporter. Our thoughts are with Lara as she recovers.”

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This article titled “CBS News’s Lara Logan suffered ‘brutal’ attack in Tahrir Square” was written by Richard Adams, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 16th February 2011 03.23 UTC

CBS News journalist Lara Logan is recovering in hospital this week after being violently attacked and sexually assaulted by a mob in Egypt’s Tahrir Square on Friday, according to a statement by CBS.

Amid the celebrations on the night of Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, Logan was reporting on the scenes in Tahrir Square for the news programme 60 Minutes when the South African-born journalist, her camera crew and security staff were overwhelmed by what the US television network described as “a dangerous element … a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy”.

“In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers,” CBS said in its statement released on Tuesday evening.

“She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering.”

Logan joined CBS in 2002, after a television news career that included a spell at GMTV covering the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and is a veteran of reporting from warzones including Iraq and Kosovo.

CBS’s chief foreign affairs correspondent, Logan had previously been detained by the Egyptian military for a day, as part of the Mubarak regime’s crackdown on foreign journalists.

Logan serves on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which documented 140 attacks on journalists in Egypt during the protests this month.

“We have seen Lara’s compassion at work while helping journalists who have faced brutal aggression while doing their jobs. She is a brilliant, courageous and committed reporter. Our thoughts are with Lara as she recovers,” said Paul Steiger, chairman of the committee.

CBS said it will make no further comment. “Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time,” the network said in its statement.

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Source: CBS

Harry Smith talks to conservative author, Ann Coulter about her views on the critical issues and races in the 2010 elections.

This isn’t much of a surprise…

[Breitbart TV]

Watch CBS Videos Online

CBS’s Harry Smith played a clip on “The Early Show” of a brief interview he did with Sean Penn following the Oscar’s. Smith told Penn that he “wept openly” several times during “Milk” because “it really is a film about the civil rights movement.”

How lame can you get? I’m so tired of all the phony solidarity that liberals feel they have to show with the gays. It was a foregone conclusion that “Milk” would win at the Oscar’s. Anybody could have played Harvey Milk and they would have won. But, guess what liberals? No matter how many awards you give to commie pinko Sean Penn, gay marriage will still be illegal in California and Harry Smith will still be a tool.

From CBS:

People who believe the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision giving the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush was politically motivated should just get over it, says Justice Antonin Scalia.

Scalia denies that the controversial decision was political and discusses other aspects of his public and private life in a remarkably candid interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl, this Sunday, April 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

“I say nonsense,” Scalia responds to Stahl’s observation that people say the Supreme Court’s decision in Gore v. Bush was based on politics and not justice. “Get over it. It’s so old by now. The principal issue in the case, whether the scheme that the Florida Supreme Court had put together violated the federal Constitution, that wasn’t even close. The vote was seven to two,” he says, referring to the Supreme Court’s decision that the Supreme Court of Florida’s method for recounting ballots was unconstitutional.

Furthermore, says the outspoken conservative justice, it was Al Gore who ultimately put the issue into the courts. “It was Al Gore who made it a judicial question…. We didn’t go looking for trouble. It was he who said, ‘I want this to be decided by the courts,’” says Scalia. “What are we supposed to say — ‘Not important enough?’” he jokes.

Call him conservative, just don’t call him biased on issues before the Supreme Court, including abortion, he says. “I am a law-and-order guy. I mean, I confess to being a social conservative, but it does not affect my views on cases,” he tells Stahl. “On the abortion thing, for example, if indeed I were…trying to impose my own views, I would not only be opposed to Roe versus Wade, I would be in favor of the opposite view, which the anti-abortion people would like to see adopted, which is to interpret the Constitution to mean that a state must prohibit abortion.” “And you’re against that?” asks Stahl. “Of course. There’s nothing [in the Constitution to support that view].”

Kudos to Justice Scalia for speaking the truth about Bush V. Gore. The far-left still just can’t quit saying Bush “stole the election” even after all this time. That argument didn’t hold up in 2000, and it doesn’t fair any better in 2008.

From The NYT:

CBS, the home of the most celebrated news division in broadcasting, has been in discussions with Time Warner about a deal to outsource some of its news-gathering operations to CNN, two executives briefed on the matter said Monday.

Over the last decade, CNN has held intermittent talks with both ABC News and CBS News about various joint ventures. But during the last several months, talks with CBS have been revived and lately intensified, according to the executives who asked for anonymity because of the confidential nature of the negotiations.

Broadly speaking, the executives described conversations about reducing CBS’s news-gathering capacity while keeping its frontline personalities, like Katie Couric, the CBS Evening News anchor, and paying a fee to CNN to buy the cable network’s news feeds.

Another possibility, these people said, would be for CBS to keep its correspondents in certain regions but pair them with CNN crews.