Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press
October 2004 | Prometheus Books
The buzzsaw is what can rip through you when you try to investigate or expose anything this country’s large institutions—be they corporate or government—want kept under wraps. The system fights back with official lies, disinformation, and stonewalling. Your phone starts acting funny. Strange people call you at strange hours to give you strange information. The FBI calls you. Your car is broken into and the thief takes your computer and your reporter’s notebook and leaves everything else behind. You feel like you’re being followed everywhere you go. (p. 284)
Pierre Salinger announced to the world on November 8, 1996, that he’d received documents from French intelligence proving that a US Navy missile had accidentally downed [TWA Flight 800]. That same day, FBI’s Jim Kallstrom called a press conference to deny Salinger’s allegations. [At the press conference,] Kallstrom rattled off a prepared speech, and then it was time for questions. A man raised his hand and asked why the Navy was involved in the recovery and investigation while a possible suspect.
Kallstrom’s response was immediate; “Remove him!” he yelled. Two men leapt over to the questioner and grabbed him by the arms. There was a momentary chill in the air after the guy had been dragged out of the room. Kallstrom acted as if nothing had happened. (pp. 290, 291)
