The Firestorm of Dark Alliance — The Final Act, Breaking the Sorcerer’s Staff of Power

R3 Files Podcast ― The Success of Failure

In this installment I focus on how covert activities by the CIA, which were open secrets in government circles were kept hidden from the public gaze. More specifically how the CIA manipulated its “productive relations” with the press, to skilfully shift the media glare away from the message (as outlined in “Dark Alliance”) and instead focus on Gary Webb & the Mercury News as the messenger. The CIA’s media team would convince reporters that Webb’s series represented no real news and was “without substance.” However in reality, “Dark Alliance” did indeed break new investigative ground on several counts, but the back-to-back attacks on “Dark Alliance” by the big three newspapers in October 1996 were the decisive turning point in scuppering the story.

I also examine the CIA’s links to newspaper journalism, specifically how the CIA utilized its media assets to undermine “Dark Alliance.” In one particular case, there was a direct link between a former CIA asset in the media, and the corporate press attacks on the “Dark Alliance” series. I then review the events surrounding the subsequent demise of Gary Webb. In particular, December 31,1996 represented a turning point because it marked the last article to be printed under Gary Webb’s name as part of his “Dark Alliance” series. By May 1997, nine months after “Dark Alliance” was first published, the cumulative weight of; public outrage over suspected US government involvement in cocaine trafficking, the government’s vehement denials, and the corporate media’s discrediting of “Dark Alliance” were finally taking their toll.

On May 11, Mercury News Executive editor, Jerry Ceppos announced in a 1,200-word open letter to the newspaper’s readers that he had re-examined the series and found several “shortcomings” in the presentation and wording of “Dark Alliance.” The newspaper soon abandoned the “Dark Alliance” investigation and the “Dark Alliance” website was subsequently pulled down. Essentially, one of the most significant news stories in decades had disappeared without a trace. Later, Gary Webb used the internet to issue a formal rebuttal of the retreat by his former paper, arguing that the only ‘shortcoming’ in the Dark Alliance series was that, it didn’t go far enough.

Unfortunately Webb was unable to reach the same pinnacle of success within the US daily newspaper business, after being hounded out of the journalism industry. Indeed, what followed was a slow, deep slide by Webb into financial instability and emotional depression. On December 10, 2004 Webb was found dead at his home in Sacramento, California from two gunshot wounds to the head and his death was declared a suicide by the coroner’s office.

Given the intense controversy created by “Dark Alliance” I then proceed with a review of;What Gary Webb’s expose achieved? and what were the possible drawbacks? Of notable interest is Webb’s character assassination by the ‘Big Three’ newspapers and how the journalistic profession weaponized the concept of legitimacy in journalism. Indeed, Gary Webb’s approach to reporting goes to the heart of the debate over journalistic truth and responsibility because his definition of objectivity was focused on, exposing the truth as he saw it, by uncovering illegal government activity linked to drug trafficking, which led to overt human and social consequences on American streets.