Lara Logan Has No Agenda begins on streaming platform Fox Nation Jan. 6. Logan, formerly a correspondent on 60 Minutes, hosts 16 episodes that focus on four topics. First up is immigration, followed by media bias, socialism and veterans.
According to Fox Nation, “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.”
Logan said she was intrigued with the prospect of going long on meaty issues. She sees No Agenda as “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.”
Logan spent 16 years at CBS News, often reporting from the front lines around the world. She took a leave of absence in 2013 after a report on Benghazi was found to be faulty. Logan departed CBS News, where she was chief foreign correspondent, in 2018.
She cited 60 Minutes stars Ed Bradley and Mike Wallace as major influences in her career. “They were great at what they did and they were great people,” she said.
Being the mother of three children, ages 9, 10 and 14, means Logan is not going to drop everything to fly to a breaking story. “The whole breaking-news lifestyle, running out the door at the drop of a hat, doesn’t fit where I am in my life now,” she said.
Fox Nation launched in November 2018. It costs $5.99 monthly and $64.99 yearly. John Finley, Fox Nation executive VP, called No Agenda “the exact kind of compelling content we want to deliver to our subscribers and super fans.”
Logan does not see herself shifting into a host role on Fox News Channel. “I really don’t consider myself a host,” she said. “I’m still a journalist.”
The South Africa-born reporter joined Sinclair for a 90-day assignment last year, focusing on the U.S-Mexico border. She said she “enjoyed the work that I did there very much,” but did not have a long-term deal with the local broadcaster.
I asked Logan what goes through her mind when she hears the president call the media the enemy of the state. “My first reaction is to look inwards, to look at ourselves--why, where, what, how?” she said. “Why is he saying that? Is it valid from his perspective?”
Logan said many journalists “have strayed from the principles of objective journalism.”
She describes the “conversation” that goes on between journalists and those they cover, and wondered if journos are being consistently objective. “We have to take responsibility for the part of that conversation that’s our fault,” she said, “and there is some of it that is our fault.”
Logan touched on media bias when she sat for an interview on the Mike Ritland podcast “Mike Drop.” On her show, she promised “honest, independent journalism that will not bow to propagandists and political operatives who use the media as a weapon to silence, punish and bully.”
She said media bias is a topic that people feel particularly strongly about these days. “It’s one of those subjects that go to the heart of freedom and how we are living and how we communicate with each other,” she said. “And how we learn about what’s happening and how we made decisions based on that. It’s significant and it just strikes a chord with people.”
Logan does not know if No Agenda will go beyond those first four topics and 16 episodes. “I’m not having that conversation yet,” she said. “They have to like it first.”
