This is an excerpt from "Newswatch" a newsletter from the Annenberg School of Communications, at UPenn:

http://www.asc.upenn.edu/usr/jsexton/NewsWatch/issue9.htm

"Reading between the lies"

Volume 1, Issue 9

August 4, 1997



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The Rewards of Responsible Journalism

In August of 1996, the San Jose Mercury News printed the infamous "CIA-contra-crack" series "Dark Alliance" by reporter Gary Webb. The story documented links between crack cocaine dealers in Los Angeles and San Francisco, drug smugglers, CIA agents/contacts and the CIA-backed terrorist army in Nicaragua. The story gained national attention, especially in African-American neighborhoods which had been destroyed by the effects of crack addiction, drug dealing, drug-related crime, and gang violence (the US mainstream media tended to report these concerned African-Americans as paranoid conspiracy theorists).

This story is not new. The contra war began in 1981-2. Reporters Robert Parry and Brian Barger found that some contra troops were involved with shipments of cocaine sent to the United States through Costa Rica back in 1985. The Associated Press wire service refused to run the story. Interestingly, the story was accidentally sent out to some foreign AP offices, and then printed in most Spanish-speaking countries in the Western hemisphere. But word still did not get out to the audience in the United States.

Gary Webb's articles secured more attention than any other article in the Mercury News' history. One would think that this would make him a hero, and that he would be treated as such by his paper, and the journalistic community as a whole. Not so.

Despite thorough research, the "Dark Alliance" was attacked by most mainstream newspapers for its wild claims (mainstream news could hardly agree however, as they had been suppressing this story for years. To praise Webb would be to admit either incompetence or complicity. In some circles the CIA-crack connection has been common knowledge. This humble editor has know for at least 6 years); since these criticisms, Webb has found even more evidence and written four additional, highly detailed stories that he submitted to his editors several months ago. However, Mercury News editor Jerry Ceppos claims that Webb had merely turned in "notes," not complete articles (Webb denies this). And just recently, Ceppos printed an editorial apologizing for not being as responsible as they should have been regarding the "Dark Alliance" series. Ceppos' apology makes very few concrete concessions, but to the casual observer, it would seem to be a retraction.

But perhaps these are just efforts to fend off external attacks. Surely Webb has received internal support, a raise, promotion pat on the back? Hardly. Webb has been transferred to the Mercury News suburban bureau in Cupertino, California,150 miles away from his home, wife, and children. Webb says, "This is just harassment. This isn't the first time that a reporter went after the CIA and lost his job over it." These actions by the Mercury News are not only a punishment to Webb, but serve as an extremely potent warning to other journalists: "Avoid real controversy or you're out of a job."

Sources: EXTRA!, San Jose Mercury News, The Progressive, Fooling America by Robert Parry