Docuseries Lara Logan Has No Agenda began on Fox Nation Jan. 6. Logan, formerly a correspondent on CBS’s 60 Minutes, tackles four topics in the series: immigration, media bias, socialism and veterans.
Fox Nation, a spinoff from Fox News Channel, is a subscription-based streaming service that launched late in 2018.
Logan will report “from the front lines of America’s political and ideological war zones and dive into a number of hot-button issues with on-the-ground coverage and expert interviews,” Fox Nation said.
Logan spoke with B+C about her influences on the series and what she learned about media bias. Here’s an edited transcript of the conversation.
B+C: Why is Fox Nation the right fit for you?
Lara Logan: What drove the decision was the work, the project, not who I was doing it for. What [Fox Nation executive VP John] Finley and Fox Nation were offering was an opportunity to do along the lines of what I did at 60 Minutes — spending more time on one subject. That was kind of a no-brainer.
I look at where I am at my career. I’m not going back to being a news correspondent somewhere, I’m not going to a bureau. I’m a mom with three kids — I can’t leave my children at the drop of a hat.
B+C: What do you consider influences on this project?
LL: There is a fabulous film [about the Mexican drug war] called Narco Cultura. I just love that film. Matthew Heineman’s film City of Ghosts [a documentary about a Syrian activist group]. As a journalist and as a storyteller, I love well-told stories. Those things that give you an opportunity to have time in a subject and be with something and feel what it’s like, I love that. Those things have influenced me.
B+C: Do you ever see yourself hosting a Fox News Channel show?
LL: I’ve never wanted to host a show. If you look at this show, I’m not in a studio, I’m out doing what I’ve always done. Even though the show has my name on it, I don’t really consider myself a host. I’m still a journalist.
B+C: You also worked for Sinclair [Broadcast Group, in spring 2019]. Some will say, between Sinclair and Fox Nation, Lara is going for the conservative crowd.
LL: If I cared what people say I’d crawl into a little hole and wouldn’t come out. That’s just smear tactics, and a function of the propaganda we live in today. I’ll work for anybody who wants me to do something for them. It really doesn’t make any difference to me. I get it, because of the way we paint people these days.
Nobody’s telling me what to say or what to think. I’m doing my job the same way I’ve always done it. I have faith that people watching see that and know that and they get it.
B+C: What are your go-to sources for news?
LL: I don’t get a whole lot of time to sit down, never mind sit down and watch TV. But I look at everything. This morning I was watching Morning Joe. I try to flip through the channels. I’m always interested in how people are covering things.
I listen to everybody. That’s what we’re supposed to do as journalists. I can read late at night when my children are asleep. Very often, by the time they fall asleep, I’m too tired to move. But I can pick up my iPad and read.
B+C: What will we learn from your report on media bias? What did you learn?
LL: I’m still learning from it, because I’m working on it still. I hope that people will learn all along the way. That’s the style that much of my career has been in, that every line should count, that time is precious, even if it’s 90 minutes and not 12 minutes in 60 Minutes or a minute or two in the evening news. The layers of the story, as they unfold, should all be worthy. The storytelling that weaves those things together, every word has to count, has to mean something. The goal is that you’re constantly learning.
One of the cool things I’ve learned [about media bias] is about one of the earliest smear campaigns against Cleopatra, and how the origins of some of these tactics are still being used today.
B+C: What do you watch for fun?
LL: I’m lucky when I get to watch anything. Yellowstone is my favorite show at the moment. I was a Game of Thrones diehard, though I was a little disappointed in the finale. I love Vikings. In the last 10 years, that’s all my TV viewing combined.
