As this occurred, a petition calling on the Washington Post
to disclose its new ties to the CIA when reporting on the agency
garnered 30,000 signatures. According to the RootsforAction petition:
“The Post often does reporting on CIA
activities. The coverage should include full disclosure that the owner
of the Washington Post is also the main owner of Amazon — and Amazon is now gaining huge profits directly from the CIA.”
Robert McChesney of the Institute for Public Accuracy pointed out the glaring conflict of interest:
“If some official enemy of the United
States had a comparable situation—say the owner of the dominant
newspaper in Caracas was getting $600 million in secretive contracts
from the Maduro government—the Post itself would lead the howling chorus
impaling that newspaper and that government for making a mockery of a
free press. It is time for the Post to take a dose of its own medicine.”
In its most recent article on the CIA’s claims of a Russian hack, the Post
made no mention of its ties to the CIA. But while this connection calls
into serious question the validity of a newspaper that claims to be a
purveyor of “great journalism,” the connections are not enough to prove
nefarious collaboration.
Unfortunately, however, history reveals actual collusion between the CIA and news outlets, including the Washington Post.
