{"id":311690,"date":"2026-01-12T12:01:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T12:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=311690"},"modified":"2026-01-10T05:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T05:30:17","slug":"cover-up-the-complicity-of-the-press-in-us-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/01\/cover-up-the-complicity-of-the-press-in-us-violence\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Cover-Up’: The Complicity of the Press in US Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Screen shot from the promotional trailer for “Cover-Up” on Seymour Hersh’s career.
Credit: Netflix: Fair use as it is included for the purpose of commentary and criticism.<\/p><\/div>\n

4 Jan 2026\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0All governments lie. Seymour Hersh built his journalism career around the creed that it\u2019s a reporter\u2019s job to expose government lies, especially those told by the United States government.<\/p>\n

Hersh unraveled a number of major cover-ups and earned a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. And yet, despite repeated lawless and violent acts throughout history, prestige media organizations remain reluctant to encourage journalism that questions the U.S. military and broader security state. Most editors and producers shun reporters, who dare to follow in Hersh\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

\u201cCover-Up,\u201d directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, takes Hersh\u2019s work over the last half century and examines what Poitras describes<\/a> as the \u201clong history of cycles of impunity, of mass atrocities that are committed and nobody is held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its importance has only increased with the U.S. military\u2019s attack on Venezuela and the CIA kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. In fact, the New York Times and the Washington Post reportedly knew<\/a> about the operation before it took place and declined to expose it. Eighty people in Venezuela died<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The film opens with a cover-up that few people may attribute to Hersh: the Dugway incident, where the U.S. Army lied about chemical weapons testing that killed 6000 sheep<\/a>. The sequence is composed of declassified footage and archival interviews, including a clip of a much younger Hersh, who refuses to back down when challenged.<\/p>\n

A third of the documentary focuses on the My Lai massacre with Hersh recounting how he came to learn about the atrocity. The U.S. military portrayed the incident as the result of one \u201cbad apple.\u201d Hersh further documented the \u201ckill anything that moves<\/a>\u201d policy in Vietnam and demonstrated that William Calley was a scapegoat. Still, U.S. Army Chief of Staff William Westmoreland retired and never faced prosecution for war crimes.<\/p>\n

Another significant portion of the film recounts Hersh\u2019s work for the New York Times in the 1970s. Right after he was hired, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wanted to speak with Hersh. He was afraid of the reporter who had uncovered the My Lai massacre.<\/p>\n

Kissinger’s fear was valid. Hersh spoke to sources, who described the secretary’s role in economic warfare against Salvador Allende\u2019s government in Chile. He also learned about a document called the \u201cFamily Jewels\u201d which detailed \u201cevery criminal act\u201d that violated American laws\u2014foreign assassinations, domestic spying, and even mind control. This reporting sent the CIA into a meltdown and triggered the Church Committee investigation.<\/p>\n

A Through Line from Vietnam to Iraq to Gaza<\/h2>\n

The film is at its best when Poitras and Obenhaus prod Hersh to be honest and go where he does not want to go. Like when he says, \u201cYou\u2019re getting me to think about things that I don\u2019t want to think about,\u201d as he revisits his reporting on the Vietnam War and how the U.S. military took young men and turned them into murderers. Or when he says, \u201cI was very happy not talking about myself\u201d and thinks he\u2019s shared too much about what he\u2019s done as a reporter.<\/p>\n

Near the beginning, we see stacks of reporting materials from different eras of Hersh’s career. Poitras and Obenhaus were granted extraordinary access that included his notes. However, Hersh doesn’t like that they have been looking at the “pads” with names “all over them.” He bristles when the filmmakers ask why sources were willing to meet with him.<\/p>\n

It makes perfect sense why Hersh would react in this manner. Twenty years ago, he was opposed to any documentary crew getting near him because it could be risky for his sources. Yet these questions honor the anonymous sources who defied a culture of violence and spoke to Hersh. That makes the answers to these questions fundamental to the film.<\/p>\n

During another section, Poitras and Obenhaus highlight Hersh\u2019s award-winning reporting on Abu Ghraib. It is made more compelling by Camille Lo Sapio, who provided Hersh with Abu Ghraib photos and appears in the film to recount her decision to become a source.<\/p>\n

Hersh has lost a lot of credibility since the 1990s. That is partly due to two episodes involving unreliable sources, which the film addresses.<\/p>\n

His 1997 book, \u201cThe Dark Side of Camelot,\u201d nearly included forged documents between President John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe. In 2013, he wrote a report that sought to undermine a U.S. intelligence assessment that concluded Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had attacked civilians in Ghouta with sarin gas. On camera, Hersh says, \u201cLet\u2019s call that very much wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are blemishes in an otherwise legendary career, and one could argue that those in journalism, who view him as a pariah, scorn Hersh because there exists a culture within the news media that makes it harder to forgive his mistakes.<\/p>\n

Defying a Half Century of Self-Censorship<\/h2>\n

At the age of 85, Hersh has turned to Substack to continue his reporting. He still speaks with sources in an effort to uncover atrocities and unravel cover-ups. For example, in the documentary, we see Hersh speak to an anonymous source who describes how the U.S.-backed Israeli military has used quadcopter to target Palestinian children, which evokes the My Lai massacre.<\/p>\n

Poitras and Obenhaus are keenly aware of the through line that may be drawn from Vietnam to Iraq to Gaza. The continuity between these wars not only implicates the U.S. government but also calls into question a U.S. press that tends to provide cover for people in power.<\/p>\n

From the start of Hersh\u2019s career, he distinguished himself by refusing to self-censor in order to fit in among colleagues at the Pentagon. He saw little value in Pentagon briefings and learned to go find young officers, talk sports, and then eventually they would share things like it\u2019s \u201cMurder Incorporated there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials consistently dreaded what Hersh would find out next. One incredible example, as Hersh reveals, involved a source named Bob Kiley, who is no longer alive. Kiley spied on student activists for the CIA. Hersh says James Angleton, chief of the CIA\u2019s counterintelligence department, denied everything and offered him two stories if he would not reveal the massive and illegal spying program known as Operation CHAOS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hersh ultimately left the Times because the newspaper constantly avoided controversy. In 1974, the Times withheld his story on the Glomar explorer<\/a> at the request of CIA Director William Colby. When Hersh took an interest in corruption at Gulf and Western, Rosenthal and others at the newspaper were uncomfortable with how it scrutinized corporate America. So Rosenthal tried to kill the story by making Hersh come up with an extra source for each major claim.<\/p>\n

While at the New Yorker, Hersh was deeply bothered by the \u201cpuff stories\u201d that ran in the magazine instead of several of his stories on the war in Iraq. The invasion and occupation was \u201cthe moral issue of our time,\u201d and Hersh could not believe that the magazine would not do everything to stop it.<\/p>\n

In 2004, CBS News\u2019s \u201c60 Minutes\u201d prepared a segment on Abu Ghraib torture. But government officials claimed if photos of detainee abuse aired would \u201churt the war.\u201d Hersh was also working on a similar story for the New Yorker. He called up \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and promised to expose the program\u2019s complicity unless the network broadcast the report as planned. The segment aired<\/a>, blew open a scandal, and won a Peabody Award.<\/p>\n

Of course, the timid nature of the prestige media, including the Times, could be understood by the fact that outlets published disinformation and propaganda that helped President George W. Bush\u2019s administration make the case for invading Iraq in 2003.<\/p>\n

Times executive editor Bill Keller delayed a report on NSA warrantless wiretapping by Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, who both worked for the newspaper. The bombshell report was eventually published. It described impeachable offenses and won a Pulitzer Prize, though all of this took place after Bush was reelected in 2004.<\/p>\n

The following year Washington Post reporter Dana Priest exposed a network of CIA \u201cblack site\u201d prisons, where detention and torture in the global \u201cwar on terrorism\u201d had occurred. But the Post undermined Priest by refusing to publish \u201cthe names of the Eastern European countries involved in the covert program, at the request of senior U.S. officials.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025, CBS News Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss censored<\/a> a story on U.S.-backed torture and abuse of deported immigrants at El Salvador\u2019s \u201cTerrorism Confinement Center. Weiss would undoubtedly help the government cover up the next Abu Ghraib scandal, and she is presently destroying whatever prestige the network\u2019s flagship program may have left.<\/p>\n

Journalists, especially those banned from the Pentagon because they would not sign Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s loyalty pledge<\/a>, could respond to the lawlessness of the Trump administration as Hersh would. They could cultivate sources, take advantage of secure submission systems, and publish information that might unravel a military-backed conspiracy to steal Venezuela\u2019s oil.<\/p>\n

But if any reporters followed the example set by Hersh, they would have to be critical of more than just Trump and his behavior. They would have to take on a military industrial-complex that they are inclined to champion.<\/p>\n

Clearly, the potential for someone like Hersh to obtain credentials is why Hegseth adopted such a censorious media policy. And given the present moment, the main takeaway of \u201cCover-Up\u201d may be that Hersh is a cautionary figure.<\/p>\n

In a country that constantly acts as an unaccountable warfare state, there can be a press. But it most certainly will not be independent.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Seymour M. Hersh\u2019s investigative journalism and publishing awards include one Pulitzer Prize, five George Polk Awards, two National Magazine Awards, and more than a dozen other prizes for investigative reporting. Hersh won a National Magazine Award for Public Interest for his 2003 articles <\/span><\/em>\u201cLunch with the Chairman,\u201d \u201cSelective Intelligence,\u201d and<\/span><\/em> \u201cThe Stovepipe.\u201d In 2004 he exposed the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in a series of pieces; in 2005, he again received a National Magazine Award for Public Interest, an Overseas Press Club award, the National Press Foundation\u2019s Kiplinger Distinguished Contributions to Journalism award, and his fifth George Polk Award, making him that award\u2019s most honored laureate. He lives in Washington DC.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of<\/em> Shadowproof, host of the<\/em> Dissenter Weekly, co-host of the podcast<\/em> Unauthorized Disclosure, and member of Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 thedissenter.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4 Jan 2026\u00a0–\u00a0All governments lie. Seymour Hersh built his journalism career around the creed that it\u2019s a reporter\u2019s job to expose government lies, especially those told by the United States government.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":311697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[2375,2314,1678,2881,1855,2462,3768,2727,688,70,1365],"class_list":["post-311690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-alternative-media","tag-corporate-media","tag-investigative-journalism","tag-journalistic-ethics","tag-mainstream-media-msm","tag-military-industrial-media-complex","tag-military-industrial-media-academic-complex-mimac","tag-nonviolent-journalism","tag-peace-journalism","tag-usa","tag-war-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311699,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311690\/revisions\/311699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}