diff --git a/docs/pages/config-reference.mdx b/docs/pages/config-reference.mdx
index 0d2bbb32ce7..2352de988f0 100644
--- a/docs/pages/config-reference.mdx
+++ b/docs/pages/config-reference.mdx
@@ -56,11 +56,11 @@ teleport:
 
     # Logging configuration. Possible output values to disk via '/var/lib/teleport/teleport.log',
     # 'stdout', 'stderr' and 'syslog'. Possible severity values are INFO, WARN
-    # and ERROR (default). Possible format values include: timestamp, component, message, caller, and level.
+    # and ERROR (default). Possible format values include: timestamp, component, caller, and level.
     log:
         output: /var/lib/teleport/teleport.log
         severity: ERROR
-        format: [level, timestamp, component, message]
+        format: [level, timestamp, component, caller]
 
     # Configuration for the storage back-end used for the cluster state and the
     # audit log. Several back-end types are supported. See the "High Availability"
diff --git a/lib/config/fileconf.go b/lib/config/fileconf.go
index 33cec2f6865..b36215373eb 100644
--- a/lib/config/fileconf.go
+++ b/lib/config/fileconf.go
@@ -459,7 +459,7 @@ type Log struct {
 	Output string `yaml:"output,omitempty"`
 	// Severity defines how verbose the log will be. Possible valus are "error", "info", "warn"
 	Severity string `yaml:"severity,omitempty"`
-	// Format lists the output fields from KnownFormatFields. Example format: [timestamp, component, message]
+	// Format lists the output fields from KnownFormatFields. Example format: [timestamp, component, caller]
 	Format []string `yaml:"format,omitempty"`
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/config/formatter.go b/lib/config/formatter.go
index 06b10fdd0bf..bfe8744bd3c 100644
--- a/lib/config/formatter.go
+++ b/lib/config/formatter.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/gravitational/teleport/api/utils"
 	"github.com/gravitational/trace"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
@@ -75,7 +76,6 @@ func (tf *textFormatter) CheckAndSetDefaults() error {
 
 	// set log formatting
 	if tf.LogFormat == nil {
-		tf.timestampEnabled = true
 		tf.callerEnabled = true
 		tf.LogFormat = KnownFormatFields.names()
 		return nil
@@ -85,11 +85,12 @@ func (tf *textFormatter) CheckAndSetDefaults() error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return trace.Wrap(err)
 	}
-	if contains(res, timestampField) {
+
+	if utils.SliceContainsStr(res, timestampField) {
 		tf.timestampEnabled = true
 	}
 
-	if contains(res, callerField) {
+	if utils.SliceContainsStr(res, callerField) {
 		tf.callerEnabled = true
 	}
 
@@ -362,13 +363,3 @@ func parseInputFormat(formatInput []string) (result []string, err error) {
 	}
 	return result, nil
 }
-
-func contains(s []string, str string) bool {
-	for _, v := range s {
-		if v == str {
-			return true
-		}
-	}
-
-	return false
-}