File 026 · 1948–1976 · Propaganda

The CIA and the media ('Operation Mockingbird')

In 1976 a Senate committee reported that the CIA had ties to about 50 American journalists or media employees. The popular name 'Operation Mockingbird' is more disputed than the relationships themselves.

Background

In the early Cold War the CIA ran large propaganda and influence operations, including radio stations aimed at the Eastern bloc and funding for cultural organizations. Officials such as Frank Wisner, who headed the CIA's covert action office, were said to play the media like a musical instrument, a phrase later quoted as the 'Mighty Wurlitzer'.

In 1976 the Church Committee's report on the CIA's use of the media said that the agency maintained covert relationships with about 50 American journalists or employees of US media organizations. Some were paid, some gave information, some provided cover for agents abroad. That year CIA director George H. W. Bush announced a policy against paid relationships with accredited US journalists.

What the record shows

• The Church Committee report (Book I, 1976) says that about 50 of the CIA's assets were American journalists or employees of US media organizations.
• The CIA's 1976 policy statement acknowledged that it had paid relationships with some US journalists.
• The 'Family Jewels' papers show that the codename MOCKINGBIRD in the 1960s referred to wiretaps on two columnists, not to a general propaganda program.
• Carl Bernstein's 1977 article claimed far larger numbers; the CIA and several newspapers disputed his figures.

Timeline

• 1948 The CIA's covert action office is set up under Frank Wisner.
• 1963 The CIA wiretaps two newspaper columnists in an operation code-named MOCKINGBIRD, described later in the 'Family Jewels' papers.
• 1967 Ramparts magazine reveals CIA funding of the National Student Association.
• 1975–76 The Church Committee examines CIA use of the American and foreign media.
• Feb 1976 CIA director Bush announces the agency will not enter into paid relationships with accredited US journalists.
• 1977 Carl Bernstein publishes 'The CIA and the Media' in Rolling Stone, claiming hundreds of journalists cooperated over 25 years.

Checking the claims

The claim: the CIA secretly controlled the American press through a program called Operation Mockingbird. The first half has real basis: the agency did have relationships with journalists, as the Senate committee reported. The second half is more doubtful. The Family Jewels papers use the codename for a separate wiretap case, and no declassified document shows a unified CIA operation under that name that managed American news coverage.

The numbers are disputed too. Bernstein said hundreds of journalists had cooperated. The committee's 'about 50' refers to people it counted at the time, and the full historical total is unknown. Because relationships were informal, the CIA's own records may not cover everything.

Claimed, but not shown

The idea that the CIA centrally directed the editorial content of the US news media is not supported by released documents.

Verdict

Sources

• Church Committee, Final Report, Book I: Foreign and Military Intelligence (1976)
• CIA 'Family Jewels' documents (released 2007)
• Carl Bernstein, 'The CIA and the Media', Rolling Stone (October 1977)

Connected files (red threads)

• The Church Committee and the 'Family Jewels' — The committee's reports are the main public source
• COINTELPRO — Secret influence campaigns inside the United States
• Operation Ajax: the 1953 Iran coup — Propaganda was part of the 1953 Iran coup plan

← Back to the case board