The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.

zaphod2016

Graduate Poster
zaphod2016
Joined
Jun 23, 2008
Messages
1,039
Please help confirm/debunk this quote:

The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media.
Click to expand...

It is attributed to William Colby.

Specifically, this quote has been sourced to this book:

Derailing Democracy: The America the Media Don't Want You to See by David McGowan.

If you use the "Look Inside" link (top left from Amazon) you can see the index (pp 226). I see no mention of Colby, not by himself, nor under Central Intelligence Agency.

Can anyone help me confirm or debunk this quote?

Assuming this book contains this quote, how reliable is the author, David McGowan?

2488685223_0b72e16830.jpg
 
Last edited:
70s? In so far as at that point the CIA was technicaly the world's largest media organisation (there were more CIA employees feeding stories to the media than any one organisation had correspondents) it has a degree of truth.

Obvious problems would be that historicaly at least the CIA has accepted that the british media was MI6 turf and in more recent years has very firmly accepted that it isn't legaly allowed to touch US based media.
 
It seems McGowan's book is the only source for this quote, which means it has zero credibility.
 
Here's McGowan's website, where you can learn that rock music of the 1960s was a CIA plot.

Another of those icons, and one of Laurel Canyon’s most flamboyant residents, is a young man by the name of David Crosby, founding member of the seminal Laurel Canyon band the Byrds, as well as, of course, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby is, not surprisingly, the son of an Annapolis graduate and WWII military intelligence officer, Major Floyd Delafield Crosby. Like others in this story, Floyd Crosby spent much of his post-service time traveling the world. Those travels landed him in places like Haiti, where he paid a visit in 1927, when the country just happened to be, coincidentally of course, under military occupation by the U.S. Marines.

If there is, as many believe, a network of elite families that has shaped national and world events for a very long time, then it is probably safe to say that David Crosby is a bloodline member of that clan .... If America had royalty, then David Crosby would probably be a Duke, or a Prince, or something similar (I’m not really sure how that **** works). But other than that, he is just a normal, run-of-the-mill kind of guy who just happened to shine as one of Laurel Canyon’s brightest stars. And who, I guess I should add, has a real fondness for guns, especially handguns, which he has maintained a sizable collection of for his entire life. According to those closest to him, it is a rare occasion when Mr. Crosby is not packing heat (John Phillips also owned and sometimes carried handguns). And according to Crosby himself, he has, on at least one occasion, discharged a firearm in anger at another human being. All of which made him, of course, an obvious choice for the Flower Children to rally around. PART 1

Another shining star on the Laurel Canyon scene, just a few years later, will be singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, who is – are you getting as bored with this as I am? – the product of a career military family. Browne’s father was assigned to post-war ‘reconstruction’ work in Germany, which very likely means that he was in the employ of the OSS, precursor to the CIA. As readers of my “Understanding the F-Word” may recall, U.S. involvement in post-war reconstruction in Germany largely consisted of maintaining as much of the Nazi infrastructure as possible while shielding war criminals from capture and prosecution. Against that backdrop, Jackson Browne was born in a military hospital in Heidelberg, Germany.
Click to expand...

So yeah, I'd say McGowan's about as credible a source as Christopher Bollyn.
 
The link you've posted is outdated, this seems to be his working website. After asking Google to find "Colby" on that site, a reading list turned up with two source descriptions containing the term:

Burton Hersch The Old Boys, Charles Scribner's Son's, 1992
With heavy doses of disinformation, this book traces the origins of the OSS and the Central Intelligence Agency, providing details about the Dulles brothers, Richard Helms, William Donovan, William Bullit, Frank Wisner, William Casey, William Colby, and the rest of the old boy network.

Gordon Thomas Journey Into Madness, Bantam, 1989
Yet another hard-to-find book that is essential reading both for information on MK-ULTRA as well as for background information on Dulles, Helms, Colby, Casey, Gottlieb, Buckley, and various other key players in the CIA.
 
Last edited:
Tina Weymouth is the daughter of a Vice Admiral of the US navy and her brother married the daughter of Katherine Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post.

Her band, the Talking Heads, performed a song called 'Don't Worry about the Government'.

Coincidence? I think not.
 
I was curious about where this quote came from and found that the only source quoted online is McGowans book. So I e-mailed McGowan and asked him where he had got it from. He did not reply.
 
tuc0 said:
It seems McGowan's book is the only source for this quote, which means it has zero credibility.
Click to expand...

Brainster said:
Here's McGowan's website, where you can learn that rock music of the 1960s was a CIA plot.
Click to expand...

Ok, McGowan is out. That was easy enough.

Has Colby ever said anything remotely similar?

Has a similar been quote been attributed to someone other than Colby?

Do we have a hybrid of multiple quotes here, or total fabrication?

geni said:
70s? In so far as at that point the CIA was technicaly the world's largest media organisation (there were more CIA employees feeding stories to the media than any one organisation had correspondents) it has a degree of truth.
Click to expand...

[citation needed]

Possibly related:

Operation Mockingbird

From the Wiki:

This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references.
Click to expand...

This looks like a gateway to wooville. Is there anything to this? Any confirmed, relevant connections between the CIA and major media?
 
Last edited:
zaphod2016 said:
Has Colby ever said anything remotely similar?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure Bill Colby ever said anything about anything that included any actual information, at least that could be traced back to him. Closed-mouthed old SOB, he was.
 
plus

Plus, he was DCI 30+ years ago. Even if he said it (which I doubt) he was talking about the 1970s and before... The media landscape was far, far different then...
 
zaphod2016 said:
[citation needed]
Click to expand...

<ref>{{cite book |title=Flat Earth news: an award-winning reporter exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media |last=Nick |first= Davies |year= 2008 |publisher= Chatto & Windus |isbn=0701181451}}</ref>
 
I can't find any non-McGowan source for this either.

Colby did die in a rather Tom Clancy novel sort of way, though.

Not saying there's anything suspicious about it - 10 minutes in the frigid tidal basin waters of the Northeast US watershed will end just about anyone.
 
Childlike Empress said:
Far less concentrated back then, indeed.
Click to expand...

And even if that,then what? It would go against quote,which would eliminate another part of CT quoitemine.

And what does concentration have to do with owning? For some types of information you cannot get many sources,so it wouldn't matter...
 
I've been toying with an idea of a book or documentary focusing on (flash) THE MEDIA (thunderclap), but I'm having a hell of a time separating fact from fiction.

The consolidation of media by conglomerates like News Corp is a fact, easily proven due to the disclosure rules surrounding public companies. The "media-opoly" meme is well known in CT circles, and checks out.

On the other hand, we have MORE sources of indy media today then ever before. The only problem is, most indy news is just as biased and unreliable as the "corporate media". Also, many "indy" news sources are owned by conglomerates of their own; digg and reddit to name just two.

However, when it comes to the CIA, or other "propaganda opps", it is extremely hard to prove anything. The government almost always denies everything, which would make sense if it were true OR false (it doesn't really tell you anything). Most "testimony" is gathered from extremely sketchy sources, however, that doesn't automatically discredit it because most self-described "revolutionaries" are a tad sketchy.

Noam Chomsky and "Manufacturing Consent" already laid a lot of ground work here, but I'd like to bring my own research to the table also.
 
zaphod2016 said:
I've been toying with an idea of a book or documentary focusing on (flash) THE MEDIA (thunderclap), but I'm having a hell of a time separating fact from fiction.

The consolidation of media by conglomerates like News Corp is a fact, easily proven due to the disclosure rules surrounding public companies. The "media-opoly" meme is well known in CT circles, and checks out.

On the other hand, we have MORE sources of indy media today then ever before. The only problem is, most indy news is just as biased and unreliable as the "corporate media". Also, many "indy" news sources are owned by conglomerates of their own; digg and reddit to name just two.
Click to expand...

Neither of those are really media. They are more media aggregators. "indy" news sources would be well indymedia.

However, when it comes to the CIA, or other "propaganda opps", it is extremely hard to prove anything. The government almost always denies everything, which would make sense if it were true OR false (it doesn't really tell you anything). Most "testimony" is gathered from extremely sketchy sources, however, that doesn't automatically discredit it because most self-described "revolutionaries" are a tad sketchy.
Click to expand...

The CIA isn't allowed to and as far as is known doesn't touch the US media these days. In any case the classic get an inside man in a media organisation aproach isn't that widely used. Feeding stories to front line journalists is a more popular aproach but western goverments tactics are much the same as those used by private companies.

Noam Chomsky and "Manufacturing Consent" already laid a lot of ground work here, but I'd like to bring my own research to the table also.
Click to expand...

Flat Earth News is mostly UK based but it's worth a read even if it suffers from an annoying habit of going off on a tangent.
 
geni said:
<ref>{{cite book |title=Flat Earth news: an award-winning reporter exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media |last=Nick |first= Davies |year= 2008 |publisher= Chatto & Windus |isbn=0701181451}}</ref>
Click to expand...

Flat Earth News by Nick Davies.

He writes for the Guardian.

Thanks for the heads up; this is exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for.

If anyone here has any reason why Nick Davies is not a credible source, let them speak now, or whenever they get the chance.

geni said:
[re: digg, reddit] Neither of those are really media.
Click to expand...

Semantics. I'd argue that determining headlines people see is even more relevant than the content of their articles.
 
Last edited:
zaphod2016 said:
Semantics. I'd argue that determining headlines people see is even more relevant than the content of their articles.
Click to expand...

But by the time it gets there the decision has already been made. Georgia's well developed PR engine means that the headline is "poor little Georgia attacked by russia" rather than "Georgia provokes war with russia then screams like a little girl" or "totaly awesome war breaks out in georgia sit back and watch all that soviet heavy kit you never though would get used going head to head".
 
geni said:
But by the time it gets there the decision has already been made. Georgia's well developed PR engine means that the headline is "poor little Georgia attacked by russia" rather than "Georgia provokes war with russia then screams like a little girl" or "totaly awesome war breaks out in georgia sit back and watch all that soviet heavy kit you never though would get used going head to head".
Click to expand...

Well here's how the Georgia thing worked and I'm not sure you could say it was CIA but it was lobbying firms. Georgia had some good lobbying going on in America and there were influential politicians who were involved in either abetting that lobbying or were targetted by the lobbying and rendered sympathetic. So when they were asked for their comments by a media that needs something to be said by a politician first before they'll report it it was likely the stories being run would be sympathetic and partial to Georgia and that's what happened.

I mean, maybe the CIA had a hand in some of this lobbying at some point in the chain but you could also see it almost as a foreign nation spending large sums of money on getting people on side and doing so successfully.
 
Georgia has no money to pay these lobbyists/PR companies. It were eighter private donors or US "foreign aid" that sponsored it.

I agreee on the CIA btw, today the journalists are "owned" by the mother cooperations, that's more than "good" enough.

A relevant documentary is "Orwell rolls in his Grave" from 2004. It's Bush aera stuff but witnessing the completely crazy talking heads FOX puts up these days and manages to confuse the viewers so much that "tens of thousands" (*cough*) are protesting imaginary problems in DC, it isn't outdated at all. Interview with the author.

Google Video This video is not hosted by the ISF, the ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE
 
Last edited:
Childlike Empress said:
A relevant documentary is "Orwell rolls in his Grave" from 2004. It's Bush aera stuff but witnessing the completely crazy talking heads FOX puts up these days and manages to confuse the viewers so much that "tens of thousands" (*cough*) are protesting imaginary problems in DC, it isn't outdated at all. Interview with the author.

Google Video This video is not hosted by the ISF, the ISF can not be held responsible for the suitability or legality of this material. By clicking the link below you agree to view content from an external website.
I AGREE
Click to expand...

Thank you for sharing that; more good stuff.

re: Georgia, I understand how PR shaped the story put out to the world. However, unless reddit put it right under my nose, I'd likely have never seen it. I argue that computerized aggregation sites, like Google News and Digg are among the most powerful of the "new media". YouTube is another good example of what I mean. Most of the stuff on YouTube is either a) crap or b) pulled directly from TV, and all the same spin doctors we love to hate. YouTube's value-add is getting that content in front of my face, despite my ongoing efforts to avoid cable news.

Shaping the story, deciding which stories to cover; these issues have affected media for a long time. The new media, and especially its socially-driven aspects, present new challenges and opportunities. It is easier than ever for the "little guy" to be heard; on the other hand, just because a link is popular, doesn't make it true.
 
Last edited:
Childlike Empress said:
I agreee on the CIA btw, today the journalists are "owned" by the mother cooperations, that's more than "good" enough.
Click to expand...

That's an "interesting" theory.

Is there anything concrete to suggest that either General Electric, News Corporation, Disney, or Viacom are controlled or influenced by the Central Intelligence Agency?
 
I don't think so. What i was trying to say is that it is not necessary these days for intelligence agencies to directly pressure journalists on a large scale, because the self-censoring mechanisms that are in place and the simple threat of losing your job, or don't getting the job in the first place, are powerful enough to maintain orthodoxy in corporate media.

Parenti has a little bonmot that goes something like this (paraphrasing): "I tell journalists who complain about my analysis and say that their bosses never prevented them from saying what they believe, that they are only in the position they're in because their bosses like what they believe".
 
Last edited:
Yeah, Parenti, a apologist for Milosvic and somebody who feels that the crimes of Joseph Stalin have been greatly "exaggerated" is a real reliable source.
 
Hey dudalb! Long time no see, i felt kind of neglected by you. He explains his stance on those issues and the direction those "critiques" are usually coming from quite well in the video i've posted.
 
Childlike Empress said:
I don't think so. What i was trying to say is that it is not necessary these days for intelligence agencies to directly pressure journalists on a large scale, because the self-censoring mechanisms that are in place and the simple threat of losing your job, or don't getting the job in the first place, are powerful enough to maintain orthodoxy in corporate media.
Click to expand...

If I may butt-in, the issue is access.

If I give a hardball interview, the crooks and liars will flee to other shows, with easier questions and more sympathetic hosts. I.e. Bush and Cheney were on FOX News all the time, but avoided the "liberal" media like a plague.

Jon Stewart is one of the few who seem immune from the access issue, and even then, I doubt we'll ever see Bush on his show. I doubt Cramer will be back.
 
zaphod2016 said:
Jon Stewart is one of the few who seem immune from the access issue, and even then, I doubt we'll ever see Bush on his show. I doubt Cramer will be back.
Click to expand...


I'm always suspicious of people who seem to be immune from the acccess issue, but i'm looking forward to the new show of Harald Schmidt, who introduced/copied the US "late night" format for german television and stuck to it for quite some time, delving into the art of celebrity non-talk during the last years - he will be back on thursday and has the opportunity to shake the republic - but i doubt he will really take it on. Otherwise, even he, a fullblown "star" and as sharp as humans get, will get burned after the first show.
 
Last edited:
Rather than search for an answer to whether Colby actually made the quote, it might be more useful to accept it and see where it leads you. We'll assume that Colby was talking about the period of time when he was in the CIA, which ends in early 1976. So who were people of any significance in the major media back then?

1. Walter Cronkite, CBS News
2. David Brinkley, NBC News
3. Howard K. Smith and Harry Reasoner, ABC News
4. Arthur Sulzberger, the New York Times
5. Kate Graham, the Washington Post

Is anybody starting to see the problem here? Let's indulge the conspiracy theorists here again; in 1963 the CIA killed Kennedy because he was about to get us out of Vietnam. But in 1968, the CIA, which owned Walter Cronkite, couldn't get him not to report that the Vietnam War was mired in stalemate? They couldn't get Kate Graham in 1972 to assign those two young reporters to cover high school football games?

BTW, not often mentioned is the fact that Colby himself was a liberal politically; he joined the nuclear freeze movement after leaving the CIA.
 
Childlike Empress said:
I don't think so. What i was trying to say is that it is not necessary these days for intelligence agencies to directly pressure journalists on a large scale, because the self-censoring mechanisms that are in place and the simple threat of losing your job, or don't getting the job in the first place, are powerful enough to maintain orthodoxy in corporate media.
Click to expand...

I don't see the connection between intelligence agencies and these "self censoring mechanisms" you describe. The simple threat of losing your job? Concerns over getting a position in the first place? That's a concern where I work. (I do work for the media, BTW.) It's also a concern at Home Depot and McDonald's.

Can you give an example of a journalist who was threatened by the CIA with losing their job, or not getting a good job later on?

All of this stuff just reads like a bunch of theory in the complete abscence of evidence. My ears are open if you have anything that can be sourced.
 
I second zaphod's recommendation of Chomsky/Herman "Manufacturing Consent" for a start, Joey. We all agreed in this thread that the notion of the CIA singlehandedly controlling the media is, today, a myth. May have been true in the past, i don't know. The documentary "Orwell rolls in his Grave" is also serious business and not "CT stuff", regardless of its title (i watched it years ago, maybe there's some crap in it but guys like Charles Lewis and Robert McChesney are a bank).
 
Last edited:
It's just that I would have attributed something of this type to the Hoover-era Federal Bureau of Investigation. Those skeletons are out in the open, as are many of the CIA's.
 
If you doubt that the mainstream media lies ON A GRAND SCALE all the time - systematically, reread the thread on the Georgia/Russia incident last year. More obvious it doesn't get. I think the title of that thread was "Russia invades Georgia" or something like that.

edit: Russia invades Georgia
 
Last edited:
I don't think they lie ON A GRAND SCALE all the time. I think they get things wrong an awful lot.

Also, in the case of the U.S. Media, there aren't many news bureaus in that part of the world. There are less and less of them, as even the large media corporations are feeling the global economic crunch. They might dispatch a reporter to a certain area who will get there after hostilities have ensued. The other thing you have to consider is where the news organizations get their information from. They might be relaying what was told to them by a military staff officer or a warlord, each of whom represent an organization that would no doubt want to be perceived a certain way. Then there's the reporter's bias, and the news organization's bias. All news organizations have them, although some work harder than others at being objective.

I don't recall major Western sources devoting many resources to the conflict anyway. That's a trend that's going to continue as they literally cannot afford to maintain field offices in every far corner of the world where things may or may not happen. They'll get there after the opening salvo and the military in the respective conflict may be attempting to control as much of the information flow in and out of the combat zone as possible. This isn't as feasible anymore with an increasingly connected public even in places that would be normally thought of as "backward," but it is still an essential part of warfare.

Unless, of course, you are alleging that the mainstream media (which organization, exactly?) fabricated their coverage for some sort of political end. And I'm sorry but I can't buy that on face value.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom