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seemslikeadream wrote:Ron Paul is a racist... just saying

The Washington Post, like the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, published a
massive package dedicated to debunking Webb's story. When a congressional
investigation later confirmed the major elements of Webb's reporting, the papers
barely covered it. (I go into the media attack in more detail in the book.)
In the face of the media onslaught, Webb's editor retracted the story. Webb was
demoted and sent to a dustbin bureau 150 miles from San Jose. He resigned after
settling an arbitration claim and went to work for a small alt-weekly. Over the
next several years, his marriage fell apart and his wages were garnished for
child support. On Dec. 10, 2004, Webb was discovered dead, shot twice in the
head with his father's .38. The local coroner declared the death a suicide.
Obituaries in the major papers referenced his "discredited" series. The Los
Angeles Times obit recalled his "widely criticized series linking the CIA to the
explosion of crack cocaine in Los Angeles," noting that "[m]ajor newspapers,
including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Washington Post, wrote
reports discrediting elements of Webb's reporting." The New York Times ran a
five-paragraph Reuters obit that began, "Gary Webb, a reporter who won national
attention with a series of articles, later discredited." The obit continued,
"The articles led to calls in Congress for an investigation, but major
newspapers discredited parts of Mr. Webb's work." It made no mention of the fact
that those calls for an investigation were heeded and that the investigation
confirmed a great deal of Webb's reporting.
The headline "Web of Deception" ran atop Howard Kurtz's story in the Washington
Post. "There was a time when Gary Webb was at the center of a huge, racially
charged national controversy. That was eight years ago, and it turned out badly
for him," Kurtz wrote. "The lesson," he concluded, "is that just because a news
outlet makes sensational charges doesn't make them true, and just because the
rest of the media challenge the charges doesn't make them part of some
cover-up."