Kill the Messenger

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

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By Nick Schou

Preface by Charles Bowden

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This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around April 28, 2009. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

Soon to be a major motion picture!

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.
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On Sale
Apr 28, 2009
Page Count
278 pages
Publisher
Bold Type Books
ISBN-13
9780786735266

Nick Schou

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.

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