Former CBS News journalist Lara Logan is headed to the U.S.-Mexico border as a special correspondent for Sinclair Broadcast Group, the local TV giant that owns or operates more than 190 broadcast stations.
Logan, who was most recently a correspondent for “60 Minutes,” will start a three-month assignment on May 1, with Sinclair’s local stations set to air her reporting.
Logan, who won numerous national journalism awards for her coverage from international war zones, told NBC News she would be covering some of the untold stories involving immigrants and people living on both sides of the border, as well as the impact of the drug cartels operating in the area.
“Everybody who is down there, all they talk about is the cartels,” Logan said. “Why is that not a much bigger part of the conversation?”
Logan’s hiring adds to recent moves by Sinclair that hint at the company’s national news ambitions outside of the journalism produced by its local TV stations.
Sinclair recently launched a weekly national news program, “America This Week,” led by former Fox News host Eric Bolling, and hired investigative journalist James Rosen, who had previously worked for Fox News. Boris Epshteyn and Sebastian Gorka, both former advisers to President Donald Trump, also appear on air for Sinclair.
The company also added former Obama campaign staffer Ameshia Cross as a left-leaning commentator.
Sinclair’s sizable reach into American homes through local TV news has caused alarm among liberal media watchdogs that have pointed to the company’s practice of pushing its affiliates to air “must run” segments with a conservative slant.
A spokesperson for Sinclair said Logan’s segments would are on all its stations.
Logan has emerged in recent months as a vocal critic of the national media over its coverage of the Trump administration, appearing several times on Fox News in the past few weeks to discuss media bias and pointing to a lack of coverage of immigrant detainment under the Obama administration as evidence of a double standard.
Logan, who is also is in the midst of writing a book about her life and career, told NBC News that she agrees with the perception that the media has a liberal bias.
“I dismissed people in conservative media as being crazy alt-right Nazis and that’s part of the propaganda,” Logan said. “Any outside view threatens the one dominant narrative that’s allowed. That’s what I’m standing up against.”