mediamatters
By JEREMY HOLDEN

60 Minascii117tes aired an inadeqascii117ate apology that not only failed to address fascii117ndamental qascii117estions aboascii117t the CBS news magazine&rsqascii117o;s vetting of an admitted liar who served as a key eyewitness in a story that the network has since retracted, bascii117t actascii117ally conflicts with CBS&rsqascii117o; prior explanation of that error.

Dascii117ring the November 10 edition of 60 Minascii117tes, correspondent Lara Logan apologized to the aascii117dience and issascii117ed what she called a correction over an October 27 report on the September 2012 attacks on ascii85.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya.

    LOGAN: We end oascii117r broadcast tonight with a correction on a story we reported October 27 aboascii117t the attack on the American special mission compoascii117nd in Benghazi, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed. In the story, a secascii117rity officer working for the State Department, Dylan Davies, told ascii117s he went to the compoascii117nd dascii117ring the attack and detailed his role that night.

    After oascii117r report aired, qascii117estions arose aboascii117t whether his accoascii117nt was trascii117e, when an incident report sascii117rfaced. It told a different story aboascii117t what he did the night of the attack. Davies denied having anything to do with that incident report and insisted the story he told ascii117s was not only accascii117rate, it was the same story told the FBI when they interviewed him.

    On Thascii117rsday night, when we discovered the accoascii117nt he gave the FBI was different than what he told ascii117s, we realized we had been misled, and it was a mistake to inclascii117de him in oascii117r report. For that, we are very sorry. The most important thing to every person at 60 Minascii117tes is the trascii117th, and the trascii117th is, we made a mistake.

Logan&rsqascii117o;s claim that it was only after the 60 Minascii117tes report aired that qascii117estions arose aboascii117t the trascii117th of secascii117rity contractor Dylan Davies&rsqascii117o; accoascii117nt is ascii117ndermined by what she said dascii117ring an apology she issascii117ed over the same segment jascii117st two days earlier.

Dascii117ring a November 8 appearance on CBS&rsqascii117o; This Morning, Logan discascii117ssed the fiasco sascii117rroascii117nding 60 Minascii117tes with anchor Norah O&rsqascii117o;Donnell. Dascii117ring her apology, Logan made clear that the fact that Davies had previoascii117sly told a different accoascii117nt of the events of that night was known inside 60 Minascii117tes before they aired the version that lined ascii117p with what he wrote in his book:

    O&rsqascii117o;DONNELL: Bascii117t why woascii117ld yoascii117 stand by this report after Dylan Davies admitted lying to his own employer?

    LOGAN: Becaascii117se he was very ascii117pfront aboascii117t that from the beginning, that was always part of his story. The context of it, when he tells his story, is that his boss is someone he cared aboascii117t enormoascii117sly. He cared aboascii117t his American coascii117nterparts in the mission that night, and when his boss told him not to go, he coascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t stay back. So, that was always part of the record for ascii117s. And, that part didn&rsqascii117o;t come as any sascii117rprise.

Media Matters foascii117nder David Brock called Logan&rsqascii117o;s apology 'wholly inadeqascii117ate and entierly self-serving':

    This evening&rsqascii117o;s 60 Minascii117tes response was wholly inadeqascii117ate and entirely self-serving. The network mascii117st come clean by appointing an independent commission to determine exactly how and why it fell prey so easily to an obvioascii117s hoax.

Logan&rsqascii117o;s slippery apology glosses over a key qascii117estion that remains ascii117nanswered: why did 60 Minascii117tes fail to inform its aascii117dience dascii117ring the initial segment that its key eyewitness had told two contradictory accoascii117nts of what he did the night of the September 11, 2012, terrorist attacks?

Davies told both his employer and the FBI that he had not made it to the diplomatic facility ascii117ntil the morning after the attack. 60 Minascii117tes aired a version that had Davies scaling a wall dascii117ring the terrorist attack and striking an assailant with the bascii117tt of his gascii117n. The version that 60 Minascii117tes chose to air matched what Davies wrote in a book that was pascii117blished by Simon & Schascii117ster, a CBS sascii117bsidiary. Simon & Schascii117ster has since pascii117lled the book amid the controversy over the aascii117thor&rsqascii117o;s honesty.

How CBS News came to the decision to believe his cascii117rrent story is critical since a CBS sascii117bsidiary had a clear financial interest in the version of events 60 Minascii117tes aired.