Kill the Messenger: Gary Webb Connected the CIA to Crack and Was Hounded to Death

A new movie profiles journalist Gary Webb, who exposed the CIA’s involvement with the U.S. crack epidemic and later committed suicide.

Webb’s groundbreaking “Dark Alliance” reports for the San Jose Mercury News documented that the CIA was at least aware that allies among the Nicaraguan Contras were using U.S. drug sales to finance their central American war. The Los Angeles Times and other papers assigned numerous reporters to discredit the story. A number of prominent media critics, public reporters and ombudsmen would go on to back Webb against the mainstream press. In fact, the Times later said of its own reporting, “we dropped the ball.” Webb struggled to find work at a daily paper and, in 2004, was found dead.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer