Lara Logan's Press Criticism, Promotion and Sex Scandal

CBS News' newly minted chief foreign affairs correspondent is now the inspiration for several bad tabloid puns of "and speaking about foreign affairs…" A Texas woman has accused her of wrecking the woman's marriage. Kimberly Burkett claims that Logan seduced her husband Joe, a civilian contractor, while the two were in Baghdad. A friend of Logan's tells the Post that the Burketts' marriage was kaput six months before Joe Burkett even met Logan.

The Post makes this story the focus of the front page, with a puntastic "SEXTY MINUTES" banner headline. (Logan is a correspondent for 60 Minutes.) The Daily News covers the story using a different angle, choosing to focus on the media aspects. The piece asserts that it's strange that Logan got promoted in the past week or so in light of this scandal and the fact that she excoriated her bosses on national television just last week.

Logan appeared on The Daily Show June 18 and expressed her frustration with her inability to get her stories from Baghdad and Afghanistan on the air. She even went so far as to say she'd "blow [her] brains out" if she had to watch American news. (The whole interview can be seen here.) The headline, "CBS beauty in boss bash, sex flap is … promoted." The News also notes that

"Logan has a reputation for bravery developed by reporting stories under fire and risking her life—she sneaked into Baghdad five days before U.S. troops got there in 2003—but has also been dogged by grumbles she uses her good looks to get ahead."

And that's the rub, isn't it? Lara Logan is hot, and now she's embroiled in one of those fluff stories that has her reaching for a revolver. Will this ultimately bring more attention to her coverage of both wars? Probably not, since this flap will fade away and there still will be a dearth of robust war coverage on the evening news.