Reporter Lara Logan Sexually Assaulted During Egypt Protests

Lara Logan, a reporter for CBS News, was sexually assaulted during the Egypt protests in a sad example of what can happen when a mob mentality takes over.

As the world continues to worry about the well-being of one CBS reporter, another has made headlines for finding herself in harm's way. Today as the internet continued to speculate over whether or not CBS2 reporter Serene Branson suffered a stroke on air, another breaking story about a female reporter in danger has shocked the web.

On February 11, the day Mubarak finally stepped down, Lara Logan was covering the reactions of the crowd in Tahrir Square. But even as the crowd shifted from being an angry mob revolting against its government to one celebrating its success in making progress, being in the midst of the mob was no less dangerous. Lara Logan was separated from her team and the security with them as she filmed a segment for "60 Minutes", and in all the chaos, she was surrounded by a group that proceeded to sexually assault her and beat her.

Lara Logan was thankfully rescued by a group of women and Egyptian soldiers and reunited with her team, returning to the United States the next morning. She is now in the hospital recovering, and CBS News and Lara Logan's family do not want to comment further on the incident at this time.

This tragedy is truly a testament to the dangers of a mob mentality in which people take advantage of the chaos and groupthink phenomenon to do terrible things that they otherwise might not get away with so easily. And of course Lara Logan wouldn't be the first reporter in Egypt to experience the dangers of the mob; Anderson Cooper was punched in the face multiple times by a pro-Mubarak mob, and Fox News reporter Greg Palkot was also badly beaten.

Since the pro-Mubarak crowd has been so hostile toward the press and has blamed them in part for Mubarak's downfall, it's very possible that Lara Logan's attackers were Mubarak supporters taking out their anger on her.

Whatever the case, it will not be easy for Lara Logan to recover from the emotional scars of what happened to her in the crush of such a dangerous crowd, but she must be commended for her courage in putting herself in such a dangerous place to make sure the world witnessed this historic event.

SOURCES:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2011/02/03/american-journalists-attacked-egypt-katie-couric-anderson-cooper/
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7758148/cbs2_says_stroke_isnt_the_reason_for.html?cat=5
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/15/60minutes/main20032070.shtml