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Nick Schou

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Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb Paperback – Bargain Price, September 29, 2006

by Nick Schou (Author), Charles Bowden (Preface)

4.5 193 ratings

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Kill the Messenger tells the story of the tragic death of Gary Webb, the controversial newspaper reporter who committed suicide in December 2004. 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. Kill the Messenger examines the "Dark Alliance" controversy, what it says about the current state of journalism in America, and how it led Webb to ultimately take his own life. Webb's widow, Susan Bell, remains an ardent defender of her ex-husband. By combining her story with 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.

Print length

278 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Nation Books
Publication date

September 29, 2006
Dimensions

8.26 x 5.58 x 0.67 inches
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Schou personally knew Gary Webb, the reporter with the San Jose Mercury News whose 1996 series of articles linked the CIA to the nation's crack-cocaine plague. Schou, who had spent eight years following a similar story, worried that Webb's suicide in 2004 would cause reporters to shy away from uncovering government involvement in drug trafficking. Schou offers a portrait of a dogged reporter, a motorcycle-driving rebel who was occasionally arrogant and had a history of depression. But Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, also had a reputation for meticulous research. Schou retraces Webb's exhaustive research, which connected crack cocaine sold on the streets of L.A and CIA operations in Nicaragua. Schou also recalls other reporters who faced attacks by the government, lack of support by editors, drug-possession setups, and death threats for investigating CIA involvement in drug trafficking. He also details the personal ruin Webb suffered when his series was greeted first with silence by the journalistic community and later attacked, a series that Schou maintains was on target. An impressive look at the intersection of clandestine government operations and a free press. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Nick Schou is an investigative journalist who worked with Gary Webb on "Dark Alliance." He writes for the LA Weekly and OC Weekly and lives in Long Beach, CA.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005SNE3NY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Nation Books; 1st edition (September 29, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 278 pages
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.26 x 5.58 x 0.67 inches

Customer Reviews:
4.5 193 ratings

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Nick Schou

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Nicholas Schou is an award-winning journalist with 25 years of experience in print media. He is the former Editor in Chief of OC Weekly, Southern California's source of news and entertainment. He is also the author of several books on national security, the media, and the war on drugs. His 2006 book Kill the Messenger was made into a 2014 Hollywood feature film starring Jeremy Renner. Schou has also worked as a story producer for the 2017 History Channel series on the U.S. War on Drugs and the 2019 Netflix Europe documentary on the Sinaloa cartel.

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Brian Saady

Finally...Gary Webb's career is covered with the proper context

Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2016

Verified Purchase

Gary Webb, as a reporter with the San Jose Mercury News, revitalized an issue that had remained dormant for nearly a decade. In the 1980s, a few reporters had covered the fact that several members of the Contras were major drug traffickers and the CIA was fully aware of their activities. The few reporters who dared to do faced institutional backlash and one high-profile reporter, Robert Parry, resigned from his position at the Associated Press due to these circumstances. All in all, the general public was unaware of the drug trafficking aspect of the Iran/Contra scandal.

Gary Webb's story was the first of its kind in the Internet era and it rapidly went viral. Subsequently, the major newspapers went into attack mode by "killing the messenger" and pulled at every thread to discredit Webb's story. This book does a brilliant job of separating fact from fiction and provides the proper context regarding Webb's critics. Some of the media firestorm that Webb faced was fair, but most of it was intellectually dishonest. Nick Schou's book removes the veil and demonstrates that the CIA has a tremendous influence over the media. Hence, there aren't many journalists who are willing to stand up to those institutional pressures.
Webb's work prompted the CIA's Inspector General, Frederick Hitz, to issue a report about Contra drug trafficking. The "Hitz report" disagreed with Webb's assertions, but it ultimately named several major drug traffickers who were funding the Contras. Nonetheless, Webb's career in journalism was nullified because he lost his job at the San Jose Mercury News and no other outlet was willing to hire him.
He died later from two shots to the head in what was ruled a suicide. Now, I know what you're thinking. That sounds unbelievable, but (once again) Nick Schou's book provides the proper context. With actual investigative journalism, Schou provides the reader with all of the relevant details to decide for themselves if Webb's death truly was a suicide or if he was the victim of foul play.

This book shows that Webb's words were taken out of c

5 people found this helpful

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joe-maryland

which is good. What is bad is it is kind of ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2014

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I bought the book because of the movie. The book fills in a lot of details and gaps that just can't fit into a movie, which is good. What is bad is it is kind of dry reading. Remember - this is about the reporter, not the guns and drugs. Things that looked exciting and scary in the movie, like bribing your way into a prison or drug airfield in Central America are missing or only very briefly described. The incidents where people try and break into Gary's house are left out as far as I know. So...where they movie fictions to liven things up or just left out or what?
I really thought I needed diagrams and charts at some point to keep track of the players. There are so many ex-CIA agents, sort of CIA hangers-on, pretend CIA agents, and so on it is about impossible to keep track. Bottom line is an unsavory bunch ran drugs, sometimes funded the Contras, and the CIA *at best* did a Sgt. Schultz ( I see Nothing I hear Nothing).
What the book DID do right was show how utterly venal the establishment press was. The NY Times, LA Times, and Washington Post all decided that some combination of hating to be scooped and fearing for loss of CIA inside contacts made it imperative to utterly destroy Gary Webb. They succeeded at it quite well and the Washington Post *is even now* still at it. The really weird thing is how old school this all seems. Just a few years later and Gary Webb would be the star of some anti-government web site and the media wouldn't think twice about tabloid style coverage of anything and everything. Look what MONICA is doing in the OVAL OFFICE OMFG! Anyone seen the President's birth certificate? Poor Gary was born 10 years too soon.

10 people found this helpful

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Jane Clark

All about the Clintons

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2023

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Based on a true story about a journalist trying to blow the whistle on Clintons. He was shot in the back of the head twice and it was ruled suicide

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Cecille C

Good for a reality check

Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is a book which I read after I finished reading the "Dark Alliance". I touted the "Dark Alliance" as a good book to read for those who think our government is being run by god-fearing people as it will serve as an excellent reality check. I say the same about "Kill the Messenger". I do not agree with all the things Nick Schou has to say, but because this book talks about the truth about our government's deep....and I mean DEEP.....involvement in running the drug industry, this should wake everyone up to the fact that there has never been a war on drugs. "Just say no" ( to drugs) was a laughable slogan. One of the doctors I work with says about 911, "You really think our own government will kill thousands of its own citizens?!" My reply was a resounding "Yes"!!! I provided him with articles to read, and it looks like this book, "Kill the Messenger" together with "Dark Alliance" will make good Christmas presents for my very naive friend. And from reading another book I realized Gary Webb could not have killed himself by shooting himself twice! This is akin to running over someone accidentally ....three times. When will the world wake up to the fact that the reality that we take for granted IS NOT? I read three to four hours a day, averaging 65 to 70 books a year, the astounding information I come across is enough to keep me awake most nights.....really.

48 people found this helpful

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Kug

Outstanding Analysis of a Painful Story

Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2021

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The analysis and writing of this story of the demise of investigative journalist Gary Webb are outstanding. The Author painstakingly takes you through the life of the subject and what led to his suicide. On the surface when reading Webb's Dark Alliance series you could and would think somebody whacked Gary Webb for his writing on the CIA. I found this an important story that goes along with his series on drugs, the Contra's, and the CIA's involvement. Well done! While they didn't pull the trigger, his persistence in the face of government scrutiny led to his death.

3 people found this helpful

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