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Journalists as spies for the CIA, really?
The birth of the celebrity-journalist
George Pillari
September 05, 2024
Read time 1m50s
It may appear that the celebrity-journalist is a new phenomenon that is a creature of the explosion of the media industry since the Internet went mainstream. In fact, it is quite an old concept.
In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America’s leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.
According to the article, more than 400 journalists had carried out assignments on behalf of the CIA while they were in foreign countries.
We are not talking about scrappy, second-tier media organizations trying to break into the club. Bernstein points out that the CIA said its best information came from journalists at The New York Times, CBS, and Time Inc., three of the most respected media corporations of the era.
Example of a simple cipher
Defenders of the journalist-as-a-spy approach say that they were just doing their duty as U.S. citizens to help protect the country. The CIA says that foreign correspondents were well-positioned “assets” since they were afforded greater freedoms and access than most U.S. citizens. That access included such things as meetings with government officials and displays of new military capabilities.
The evidence from Bernstein’s story suggests a formal relationship, rather than a, “Hey, tell us what you saw over there,” approach.
In the 1950s, it was not uncommon for returning reporters to be met at the ship by CIA officers. “There would be these guys from the CIA flashing ID cards and looking like they belonged at the Yale Club,” said Hugh Morrow, a former Saturday Evening Post correspondent who is now press secretary to former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. “It got to be so routine that you felt a little miffed if you weren’t asked.”
In many ways, the journalist-spy of the latter half of the twentieth century was more hero than celebrity. The journalist-spy took risks, was working for the greater good, and was often unpaid.
To this day, the CIA has kept the names of the journalists secret. While the practice of using journalists as CIA assets distorts the concept of an objective newsroom, it is understandable why the model was in place and not debatable that it produced value to the U.S. without generating fame and fortune for the journalist.
Key Takeaways
In recent years, many journalists have been imprisoned when operating in foreign countries. Most have been accused of spying. The root of the problem goes back more than 50 years.
Contrary to popular belief, not everything the CIA did was bad for the U.S. These journalist-spies gathered useful intelligence.
Much human intelligence (HUMINT) has been replaced by the capturing of radio and other signals (SIGINT) and through the use of powerful computers to gather data from open sources like media outlets, databases, and financial institutions (Open Source Intelligence or OSINT).
Bonus
The FBI and the National Security Agency (NSA) have the right to collect all phone calls, text messages, social media, and anything they want from any non-US citizen who can be deemed a “threat” to the security of the United States. Many believe the agencies have bent this law to surveil U.S. citizens as well.
This post was excerpted from The Seven Deadly Stupidities: Using Other People’s Failures to Make Better Decisions, available on Amazon.
Trusting the Media is one of the The Seven Deadly Stupidities.
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