Daily Beast:
Americans love a good conspiracy theory, and plenty have been bandied about this election season. But what about conspiracy theories that turned out to be, well, not theoretical at all?
The CIA has long played the international game of propaganda required by an intelligence agency, but during the Cold War, the Agency paid and intimidated journalists into helping promote its messages. Famous Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein broke the story in 1977 for Rolling Stone. Bernstein revealed the workings of Operation Mockingbird, in which many journalists ? included Pulitzer Prize winners ? joined the CIA?s payroll, writing fake stories to disseminate the agency?s agitprop and providing intelligence. Other journalists were threatened and blackmailed into cooperating with Mockingbird, and many were given falsified or fabricated information about their actions in order to engender their support for the CIA?s mission. The program has never been officially discontinued.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-cia-paid-and-threatened-journalists-to-do-its-workDoes the CIA still have journalists on their payroll? Seems likely
The Intercept:
Email exchanges between CIA public affairs officers and Ken Dilanian, now an Associated Press intelligence reporter who previously covered the CIA for the Times, show that Dilanian enjoyed a closely collaborative relationship with the agency, explicitly promising positive news coverage and sometimes sending the press office entire story drafts for review prior to publication. In at least one instance, the CIA?s reaction appears to have led to significant changes in the story that was eventually published in the Times.
?I?m working on a story about congressional oversight of drone strikes that can present a good opportunity for you guys,? Dilanian wrote in one email to a CIA press officer, explaining that what he intended to report would be ?reassuring to the public? about CIA drone strikes. In another, after a series of back-and-forth emails about a pending story on CIA operations in Yemen, he sent a full draft of an unpublished report along with the subject line, ?does this look better?? In another, he directly asks the flack: ?You wouldn?t put out disinformation on this, would you??
https://theintercept.com/2014/09/04/former-l-times-reporter-cleared-stories-cia-publication/Ken Dilanian now works for NBC News
