The story of Gary Webb is one of the most fascinating, revealing and tragic tales in modern journalism.
If you’re unfamiliar with Webb, the RN&R‘s cover story 12 years ago this week is an excellent primer. It was written by the fantastic Melinda Welsh, the longtime editor of our then-sister paper in Sacramento. The first portion:
This one has all the ingredients of a dreamed-up Hollywood blockbuster: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist uncovers a big story involving drugs, the CIA and a guerrilla army. Despite threats and intimidation, he writes an explosive exposé and catches national attention. But the fates shift. Our reporter’s story is torn apart by the country’s leading media. He is betrayed by his own newspaper. Though the big story turns out to be true, the writer commits suicide and becomes a cautionary tale.
Hold on, though. The above is not fiction.
Kill the Messenger, a film coming soon to a theater near you, is the true story of Sacramento-based investigative reporter Gary Webb, who earned both acclaim and notoriety for his 1996 San Jose Mercury News series that revealed the CIA had turned a blind eye to the U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras trafficking crack cocaine in South Central Los Angeles and elsewhere in urban America in the 1980s. One of the first-ever newspaper investigations to be published on the Internet, Webb’s story gained massive readership and stirred up a firestorm.
After being deemed a pariah by media giants like The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, and being disowned by his own paper, Webb eventually came to work in August 2004 at Sacramento News & Review. Four months later, he committed suicide at age 49. He left behind a grieving family—and some trenchant questions.
Like others working at our newsweekly in the brief time he was here, I knew Webb as a colleague and was terribly saddened by his death. Those of us who attended his unhappy memorial service at the Doubletree Hotel in Sacramento thought it surely marked a conclusion to the tragic tale of Gary Webb.
But no.
Because here comes Kill the Messenger, a Hollywood film starring Jeremy Renner as Webb; Rosemarie DeWitt as Webb’s then wife, Sue Bell (now Stokes); Oliver Platt as Webb’s top editor, Jerry Ceppos; and a litany of other distinguished actors. Directed by Michael Cuesta, the film opens October 10.
Members of Webb’s immediate family—including his son Eric, who lives near Sacramento State and plans a career in journalism—expect to feel a measure of solace upon the release of Kill the Messenger.
“The movie is going to vindicate my dad,” he said.
Renner spoke to the News & Review about his choice to star in and co-produce it.
“The story is important,” said Renner. “It resonated with me. It has a David and Goliath aspect. He was brave, he was flawed. … I fell in love with Gary Webb.”
While Kill the Messenger received good reviews—especially the performance by local icon Renner—it did not do great at the box office, which is a shame, because Webb’s story deserves widespread attention.
Webb was stubborn, and his reporting was flawed—but it uncovered truths that needed to be exposed. The ways in which The New York Times, The Washington Post and especially the Los Angeles Times went after Webb are appalling, and show how petty and dismissive the nation’s largest news sources can be. Webb’s personal story illustrates the dangers and horrors of mental illness.
Toward the end of the piece, Melinda writes about her experience at Webb’s funeral:
My own distress at Webb’s passing wasn’t fully realized until my eyes lit on his Pulitzer Prize propped just inside the entryway. It was the first one I’d ever seen. I wondered how many more exceptional stories he might have produced.
“He wanted to write for one of the big three,” said Webb’s brother Kurt. “Unfortunately, the big three turned (on him).”
Praise flowed for the absent journalist, for his smarts, guts and tenacity, from friends, colleagues and VIPs. A statement from-now U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, then a senator, had been emailed to SN&R: “Because of (Webb)’s work, the CIA launched an Inspector General’s investigation that found dozens of troubling connections to drug-runners. That wouldn’t have happened if Gary Webb hadn’t been willing to stand up and risk it all.”
Rep. (Maxine) Waters, who spent two years following up on Webb’s findings, wrote a statement calling him “one of the finest investigative journalists our country has ever seen.”
If you don’t know much about Webb’s story, I highly recommend reading the rest of Melinda’s piece, and perhaps watching Kill the Messenger. Webb was a journalism hero—a troubled, imperfect hero, but a hero nonetheless.
—Jimmy Boegle
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