The CIA and the Media: 50 Facts the World Needs to Know
Since the end of World War Two the Central Intelligence Agency
has been a major force in US and foreign news media, exerting
considerable influence over what the public sees, hears and reads on a
regular basis. CIA publicists and journalists alike will assert they
have few, if any, relationships, yet the seldom acknowledged history of
their intimate collaboration indicates a far different story–indeed, one
that media historians are reluctant to examine.
Whenseriously practiced, the journalistic profession involves gathering
information concerning individuals, locales, events, and issues. In
theory such information informs people about their world, thereby
strengthening “democracy.” This is exactly the reason why news
organizations and individual journalists are tapped as assets by
intelligence agencies and, as the experiences of German journalist Udo
Ulfkotte (entry 47 below) suggest, this practice is at least as
widespread today as it was at the height of the Cold War.
Consider the coverups of election fraud in 2000 and 2004, the
events of September 11, 2001, the invasions Afghanistan and Iraq, the
destabilization of Syria, and the creation of “ISIS.” These are among
the most significant events in recent world history, and yet they are
also those much of the American public is wholly ignorant of.
In an era where information and communication technologies are
ubiquitous, prompting many to harbor the illusion of being
well-informed, one must ask why this condition persists.
Further, why do prominent US journalists routinely fail to question
other deep events that shape America’s tragic history over the past half
century, such as the political assassinations of the 1960s, or the
central role played by the CIA major role in international drug
trafficking?
