Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb

Written by Nick Schou, Charles Bowden and Ray Chase

Narrated by Richard Ferrone

Gary Webb is the former San Jose Mercury News reporter whose 1996 “Dark Alliance” series on the so-called CIA-crack cocaine connection created a firestorm of controversy and led to his resignation from the paper amid escalating attacks on his work by the mainstream media. Author and investigative journalist Nick Schou published numerous articles on the controversy and was the only reporter to significantly advance Webb’s stories.

Drawing on exhaustive research and highly personal interviews with Webb’s family, colleagues, supporters and critics, this book argues convincingly that Webb’s editors betrayed him, despite mounting evidence that his stories were correct. By providing a probing examination of the one of the most important media scandals in recent memory, this book provides a gripping view of one of the greatest tragedies in the annals of investigative journalism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Sep 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781622315406

Reviews for Kill the Messenger

[gcthomas-267727 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A biography of investigative journalist Gary Webb and the series of articles which simultaneously catapulted him to fame and ended his career.

Webb's 1996 "Dark Alliance" series in the San Jose Mercury News revealed connections between Los Angeles drug dealers and the "Contras", a loose coalition of US-backed terrorist groups seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. Webb unearthed evidence that the CIA was turning a blind eye to Contra drug trafficking, which, he argued, had contributed to the surge in crack-cocaine use in LA in the 1980s. The article sparked controversy as some readers held it up as "proof" that the CIA had deliberately started the crack epidemic, while mainstream newspapers published vicious attack articles seeking to discredit the series and Webb himself. Ultimately, Webb lost his job at the Mercury News and was effectively pushed out of journalism altogether.

While the book did a good job of explaining the story and the controversy around it, parts of the book felt like filler. I thought the book spent a little too long on Webb's early life, which was largely irrelevant to the main story, and went into excessive sordid detail about Webb's personal problems following his departure from the Mercury News, culminating in his suicide in 2004. However the core of the book felt very thorough, balanced, and well-researched, incorporating quotes from numerous sources both supportive and critical of Webb's work.

Overall, an interesting, though somewhat depressing, case study on the workings of the US news media system.