Another Challenge To CBS’ Benghazi Report

11/18/13
 
   < < Go Back
 
from Media Matters,
11/13/13:

McClatchy News has offered a damning critique of 60 Minutes’ now-retracted story on the September 2012 Benghazi attacks, pointing out that several aspects of the story feature minimal sourcing and contradict the statements of experts.

The report comes as CBS News discloses that a “journalistic review” of the heavily criticized October 27 segment, which featured a since-discredited “witness” and promoted his book on the attacks without disclosing that the book was published by a CBS division. CBS has declined to explain who is conducting that review, how it is being conducted, and whether its findings will be public.

During the segment, correspondent Lara Logan made a number of claims about the attack and its perpetrators, often sourced only with the statement “[w]e have learned” or with nothing at all. McClatchy News Middle East Bureau Chief Nancy Youssef’s reporting suggests that these claims were also inaccurate. Given that the report’s sources included a man whose account CBS News has already acknowledged was fraudulent, it’s fair to question the sourcing of other claims in the report.

More From Media Matters: