What I Watched -- Kill the Messenger

T and I took advantage of his fancy TV to catch a movie not too long ago.  Kill the Messenger is based on the true story of a investigative journalist named Gary Webb.  Webb worked for the San Jose Mercury News when he investigated and, in 1996, published a series of stories which amounted to an indictment of the CIA for supporting the importation of cocaine from Nicaragua into urban areas in order to fund guerrilla forces in Central America (which Congress had refused to fund otherwise).

There were some problems with the reporting that were honed in on by other news sources who either thought they were doing there job or were overly aggressive because they were mad about being scooped, depending on whom you ask.

In any case, the whole business eventually cost Webb his job at the Mercury News.  He never made a living as a journalist again.

His work, however, did spark a justice department investigation into the same subject matter.  Their findings, which were released in December 1997 and supported some (but not all) of what Webb had claimed, were not widely reported in the media.  And yes, this is letting the fox guard the hen house.  If you want to read the findings for yourself, they're available here.

Gary Webb was found dead in his home in 2004 with two gunshot wounds to the head.  His death was ruled a suicide.  (It appears that that's possible.)