Talk:Operation Mockingbird

re http://web.archive.org/web/20011217025849/www.geocities.com/alanjpakula/triplecrown.html .... the Wayback Machine says that it is not operational today.

However, the link is for www.geocities.com/alanjpakula ...

Alan J. Pakula produced "To Kill a Mockingbird" in 1962 and directed "All the President's Men" in 1976. 

Curious or not?


 * Sure!
 * also, http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&th=eac91af2ae474690&rnum=1

Just had one of those obvious "ah-ha" moments ..... think tanks and their "studies" are no more than legalized money laundering covert operations' vehicles. The more these "names" (people, agencies, organizations, etc.) criss-cross, the more obvious it becomes.

--- Am going to rewrite this page and delete what can't be verified -- Most of the allegations in what was here is unsubstantiated and can't be verified. A nexis search turns up nothing and a Google only conspiracy theory sites. For example it is claimed that Philip Graham was central to the operation and much is made of his role as an innteligence officer in WWII. In fact he was a major in intelligence an Air Force unit - hardly a high level role. And to claim that the Washington Post is one of the most right wing daily newspapers is off the wall. So, over the next few days I'm going to rewrite this and it is easier to start with a clean slate so have relocated what was on the article page to the talk page -- --Bob Burton 05:56, 10 Sep 2004 (EDT)

The "rewrite" is now a new article at The CIA and journalism ---

Operation Mockingbird more...
"Operation Mockingbird 911review.org"

Re cleanout
I have deleted the content of the page for a couple of reasons:
 * there are numerous websites, mostly conspiracy sites, that refer to Operation Mockingbird but none cite the primary source on the name or where it was first disclosed;
 * the most common origins of the term as to a Carl Bernstein article in Rolling Stone; However, the extract of the Bernstein article that is online refers to the CIA using journalisms but it doesn't specifically mention Operation Mockingbird; where the Senate Select Intelligence Committee chaired by Senator Frank Church is referred to there are no primary source citations;
 * I have no doubt that the CIA used journalists but I can find no evidence that it was called Operation Mockingbird. In the absence of some credible source on the name Operation Mockingbird, there is no basis for a page by this title;
 * Yes, there are plenty of websites referring to Operation Mockingbird but none go back to credible primary sources; instead, they either refer to each other or make sweeping unreferenced claims that don't deserve to be repeated here. The previous content of this page was largely derived from these sites;
 * For this reason I created the page The CIA and journalism where the issue can be documented but without being tied to the name of what appears to be an unverified title;
 * I relocated the Kristine Borjesson reference to the media trends page where it seems more appropriate; I checked my copy but it does not have any mention of Operation Mockingbird, so it is not appropriate to list it in the references. --Bob Burton 00:37, 9 Oct 2006 (EDT)

Control of information is essential for autocratic rulers. It is well documented how the CIA became a central tool for this task:

Overview by Mary Louise posted at PrisonPlanet.com (2003-03-01):


 * "Starting in the early days of the Cold War (late 40's), the CIA began a secret project called Operation Mockingbird, with the intent of buying influence behind the scenes at major media outlets and putting reporters on the CIA payroll, which has proven to be a stunning ongoing success. The CIA effort to recruit American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda, was headed up by Frank Wisner, Allen Dulles, Richard Helms, and Philip Graham (publisher of The Washington Post)."

From an undated piece by Steve Kangas titled "The Origins of the Overclass":


 * "Journalism is a perfect cover for CIA agents. People talk freely to journalists, and few think suspiciously of a journalist aggressively searching for information. Journalists also have power, influence and clout. Not surprisingly, the CIA began a mission in the late 1940s to recruit American journalists on a wide scale, a mission it dubbed Operation MOCKINGBIRD. The agency wanted these journalists not only to relay any sensitive information they discovered, but also to write anti-communist, pro-capitalist propaganda when needed."


 * "Perhaps no newspaper is more important to the CIA than the Washington Post, one of the nation's most right-wing dailies. Its location in the nation's capitol enables the paper to maintain valuable personal contacts with leading intelligence, political and business figures. Unlike other newspapers, the Post operates its own bureaus around the world, rather than relying on AP wire services. Owner Philip Graham was a military intelligence officer in World War II, and later became close friends with CIA figures like Frank Wisner, Allen Dulles, Desmond FitzGerald and Richard Helms. He inherited the Post by marrying Katherine Graham, whose father owned it."


 * "Sig Mickelson was a CIA asset the entire time he was president of CBS News from 1954 to 1961. Later he went on to become president of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, two major outlets of CIA propaganda."


 * "The CIA also secretly bought or created its own media companies. It owned 40 percent of the Rome Daily American at a time when communists were threatening to win the Italian elections. Worse, the CIA has bought many domestic media companies. A prime example is Capital Cities, created in 1954 by CIA businessman William J. Casey (who would later become Ronald Reagan's CIA director). Another founder was Lowell Thomas, a close friend and business contact with CIA Director Allen Dulles. Another founder was CIA businessman Thomas Dewey. By 1985, Capital Cities had grown so powerful that it was able to buy an entire TV network: ABC."


 * "For those who believe in 'separation of press and state,' the very idea that the CIA has secret propaganda outlets throughout the media is appalling. The reason why America was so oblivious to CIA crimes in the 40s and 50s was because the media willingly complied with the agency."

There are several copies online of "The Alex Constantine Article; Tales from the Crypt -- The Depraved Spies and Moguls of the CIA's Operation MOCKINGBIRD"


 * "[In the late 40's] the American intelligence services competed with communist activists abroad to influence European labor unions. With or without the cooperation of local governments, Frank Wisner, an undercover State Department official assigned to the Foreign Service, rounded up students abroad to enter the cold war underground of covert operations on behalf of his Office of Policy Coordination. Philip Graham, a graduate of the Army Intelligence School in Harrisburg, PA, then publisher of the Washington Post., was taken under Wisner's wing to direct the program code-named Operation MOCKINGBIRD."


 * "Most consumers of the corporate media were - and are - unaware of the effect that the salting of public opinion has on their own beliefs. A network anchorman in time of national crisis is an instrument of psychological warfare in the MOCKINGBIRD media. He is a creature from the national security sector's chamber of horrors. For this reason consumers of the corporate press have reason to examine their basic beliefs about government and life in the parallel universe of these United States."


 * "Former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham 'believing that the function of the press was more often than not to mobilize consent for the policies of the government, was one of the architects of what became a widespread practice: the use and manipulation of journalists by the CIA'. This scandal was known by its code name Operation MOCKINGBIRD."

There are many citations attached to "A Letter to the Washington Post" by Julian C. Holmes dated April 25, 1992.

From "Subverting the Media" by David Guyatt:


 * "In an October 1977, article published by Rolling Stone magazine, Carl Bernstein reported that more than 400 American journalists worked for the CIA. Bernstein went on to reveal that this cozy arrangement had covered the preceding 25 years.  Sources told Bernstein that the New York Times, America's most respected newspaper at the time, was one of the CIA's closest media collaborators.  Seeking to spread the blame, the New York Times published an article in December 1977, revealing that 'more than eight hundred news and public information organisations and individuals,' had participated in the CIA's covert subversion of the media.


 * "As these stories hit the news, Senate investigators began to probe the CIA sponsored manipulation of the media - the 'Fourth Estate' that supposedly was dedicated to acting as a check and balance on the excesses of the executive. This investigation was, however, curtailed at the insistence of Central Intelligence Agency Directors, William Colby and George H.W. Bush - who would later be elected US President.  The information gathered by the Senate Select Intelligence Committee chaired by Senator Frank Church, was 'deliberately buried' Bernstein reported.


 * "Slowly, the role of Mockingbird in muzzling and manipulating the press began to be revealed. In 1974, two former CIA agents, Victor Marchetti and John D. Marks, published a sensational book entitled "The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" (ISBN 0440203368).  The book caused uproar for the many revelations it contained."

From "Myth of Liberal Media", posted at Democratic Underground (includes citation links), Democracy Unbound (scroll down), and at http://web.archive.org/web/20011217025849/www.geocities.com/alanjpakula/triplecrown.html (access via the Wayback Machine):


 * "After this embarrassment, it was necessary for the Right to use its own private network to replace Mockingbird. As a result, there is now the Cato Institute, with Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch (Fox, NY Post, TV Guide) on the Board with ATT/TCI's Malone [10] . Another big contributor to Cato is Viacom, which recently acquired CBS. Consequently, CBS/Viacom is now headed by Sumner M. Redstone, who is yet another powerful right wing figure with a WWII intelligence background [11] and apparent ties to OSS/CIA figures [12] . Cato serves the purpose of infusing the Media with Right Wing Propaganda, along with such organizations as Accuracy in Media (AIM), the Independent Women's Forum, the Western Journalism Center and -- of course -- the Heritage Foundation (See Main Page for Details).


 * "The difference between the days of Operation Mockingbird and the present situation is that, instead of actually placing network executives, publishers, editors, reporters and pundits on the CIA payroll, their contemporary counterparts are now members of the Right Wing Think Tanks*. In addition to Cato's Murdoch, some high profile examples are MSNBC's Laura Ingraham (a notorious 'Scaifette' from the Independent Women's Forum [13] ) and ABC's John Stossel [14] . CNN's Kate O'Beirne is a Heritage fellow (and previous VP) who is a regular columnist for the National Review. Also, old Bonesman/CIA hand William F. Buckley, Jr. is the Editor of the arch-conservative Review. The National Review's President and Chairman is none other than Thomas Rhodes, who was recently a Heritage Board member. Other right wing journals financed by these sugar-daddies (and mommies) include the American Spectator, Human Events and Murdoch's Weekly Standard."

From Glen Yeadon's "From the streets of Little Beirut" (2/28/03):


 * "CIA censorship and media-propagandizing was supposed to have stopped in the mid-1970s after the Church Committee investigated the CIA's Project Mockingbird. At the time, every major media outlet was infected with Mockingbird. Coexisting with Project Mockingbird was a FBI operation named COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO was successful in destroying not only leftist groups but also more importantly the press of the left. Ramparts Magazine was a major target eliminated by COINTELPRO. In one short decade, the alternative press had been wiped out."

SourceWatch Resources

 * Herbert Allen
 * The CIA and journalism