After coming under fire from journalists and media watchdog groups for an erroneous report about last year’s attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, CBS News said on Wednesday that the organization has been conducting a “journalistic review” into the story.
Kevin Tedesco, spokesman of “60 Minutes,” told McCatchy DC that the review is “ongoing” and had begun as soon as concerns were raised about the Oct. 27 piece. He did not elaborate further.
But just days ago, Jeff Fager, CBS News chairman and “60 Minutes” executive producer, told the New York Times that an investigation had not been ordered. A spokesman also indicated that its recent, televised apology by CBS correspondent Lara Logan would be the organization's final word on the debacle.
On Sunday night, Logan apologized for the report, which featured security officer Dylan Davies. Davies had given an eyewitness account to the prestigious investigative news program, claiming he was at the embassy during the attack –which killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. He said he fought off a militant with the “butt end of a rifle,” scaled a wall and even saw Stevens’ dead body.
But according to an official report, allegedly written by Davies, he was not actually present during the attack. Davies has denied writing the report.
Logan, on air, said “We realized we had been misled and it was a mistake to include him in our report.”
Critics immediately pounced on Logan’s 90-second apology, arguing the news organization was skirting important issues like how the reporting errors came about, what action was being taken against those involved in the report (including Logan), and what was being done to prevent such false reports from ever happening again.
CBS has not indicated whether or not its findings from the review would be made public.