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Karmadillo

(9,253 posts)
Sun Feb 8, 2015, 09:35 PM Feb 2015

Robert Parry: A still valuable investigative journalist or a liar & conspiracy theorist? [View all]

I had always thought Robert Parry was a rather admirable figure. There's the October Surprise, the Iran-Contra work, the willingness to back Gary Webb when so many of the best journalists kept their silence and cashed their paychecks, and the nonstop reporting on the spectacularly criminal George W. Bush administration. Is that admiration misplaced? No longer seen as the award-winning investigative journalist of the past by some who visit the internet, Parry is now openly called a liar and a conspiracy theorist by those disenchanted with his reporting.

First, a review of what Parry has done:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Parry_%28journalist%29

Robert Parry (born June 24, 1949) is an American investigative journalist best known for his role in covering the Iran-Contra affair for the Associated Press (AP) and Newsweek, including breaking the Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare (CIA manual provided to the Nicaraguan contras) and the CIA and Contras cocaine trafficking in the US scandal in 1985. He was awarded the George Polk Award for National Reporting in 1984. He has been the editor of Consortium News since 1995.

<edit>

In August 1990 PBS' Frontline asked Parry to work on the October Surprise conspiracy theory, leading to Parry making several documentaries for the program, broadcast in 1991 and 1992. He continued to pursue it after a Congressional investigation had concluded the story was untrue, turning his Frontline research into a book published in 1993, and in 1994 he unearthed "a treasure-trove of government documents" supporting the theory, "showing that the task force suppressed incriminating CIA testimony and excluded evidence of big-money links between wealthy Republicans and Carter's Iranian intermediary, Cyrus Hashemi". In 1996 Salon.com wrote about his work on the theory, saying that "his continuing quest to unearth the facts of the alleged October Surprise has made him persona non grata among those who worship at the altar of conventional wisdom."

When journalist Gary Webb published his newspaper series Dark Alliance in 1996 alleging that the Reagan administration had allowed the Contras to smuggle cocaine into the US to make money for their efforts, Parry supported Webb amidst heavy criticism from the media.


If DU postings are any indicator, Parry was seen as someone with a pretty reliable insight into reality during the not too distant Bush II years. His work was posted on a regular basis.

All in all, Parry has built a resume that screams a willingness to speak the truth regardless of the cost in dollars or popular acclaim. What's happened? Why are those so opposed to Parry so opposed? Has his reporting on Ukraine and the threats of a new Cold War been so off base as to reveal a once praiseworthy journalist as nothing more than a propaganda spewing puppet? Is the US Empire now such a good actor that investigative journalists like Parry are left with no real crimes and controversies to report and must resort to simply making things up? I don't see it, but that's just me. Maybe those opposed to his work could enlighten those of us who still embrace it. Is it Money? Sex? Power? What is it that would make a champion of progressive reporting abandon his principles?

62 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Parry is the real thing, in an age of disappearing journalism. Faryn Balyncd Feb 2015 #1
He tells the uncomfortable truth. polly7 Feb 2015 #2
Because this went so well last time. NuclearDem Feb 2015 #3
There is an alert on it already... Agschmid Feb 2015 #4
oh FFS grasswire Feb 2015 #12
Post removed Post removed Feb 2015 #5
nice callout of a DU host Duckhunter935 Feb 2015 #11
When Freepers become DU Hosts Oilwellian Feb 2015 #14
Are you proud of yourself? NuclearDem Feb 2015 #15
I sure think so Duckhunter935 Feb 2015 #17
Not a good first day on the job for that host leveymg Feb 2015 #18
It was not a good lock Duckhunter935 Feb 2015 #19
Agreed. Censorship shouldn't be tolerated here. leveymg Feb 2015 #24
I notice his biggest detractors also happen to be some of the loudest Greenwald & Snowden haters too Electric Monk Feb 2015 #6
+1000000 Always watch the patterns. woo me with science Feb 2015 #16
Yep, same bunch of name callers. JEB Feb 2015 #32
That's a known bug MannyGoldstein Feb 2015 #42
Yeah, but they just love Hillary. Scuba Feb 2015 #45
If only every reporter could have the integrity of Judith Miller... Karmadillo Feb 2015 #50
Robert Parry has integrity. Octafish Feb 2015 #7
+10000000000 woo me with science Feb 2015 #20
+ another Scuba Feb 2015 #46
support truth tellers and whistle blowers grasswire Feb 2015 #8
grasswire? woo me with science Feb 2015 #21
try this grasswire Feb 2015 #23
LOL. woo me with science Feb 2015 #29
thanks for that, I need to check that site more often... whereisjustice Feb 2015 #44
If someone alerts on this again, I hope they at least explain themselves this time n/t arcane1 Feb 2015 #9
How dare you! Parry is an enemy of the state! dissentient Feb 2015 #10
I'm missing the liar/conspiracy parts. nt UTUSN Feb 2015 #13
K&R Excellent OP. woo me with science Feb 2015 #22
He's a stenographer, parroting the Kremlin line... SidDithers Feb 2015 #25
If the NYT used unnamed sources the same way Parry did NuclearDem Feb 2015 #26
Putin boot-lickers abound...nt SidDithers Feb 2015 #30
no ROFL? grasswire Feb 2015 #27
sid, nukie dem and the duck? ROFLMAO RobertEarl Feb 2015 #33
Damn starfish shot down MH-17. NuclearDem Feb 2015 #34
Sea stars are still dieing RobertEarl Feb 2015 #35
Glad to see you have about as good a grasp on aerodynamics and physics NuclearDem Feb 2015 #36
If i have a one finger grasp RobertEarl Feb 2015 #37
You can Be Free to believe whatever you want, Billy. NuclearDem Feb 2015 #39
Making a name for yourself, are you? RobertEarl Feb 2015 #41
see post #6 nt grasswire Feb 2015 #28
yes it really was Duckhunter935 Feb 2015 #31
Argumentum ad hominem – the evasion of the actual topic by directing an attack at your opponent. Tace Feb 2015 #38
He's a fucking Kremlin stooge. NuclearDem Feb 2015 #40
Well said. n/t zappaman Feb 2015 #56
Well said. nm rhett o rick Feb 2015 #43
LOL... SidDithers Feb 2015 #49
How predictable. Scuba Feb 2015 #47
Is that the one where the someone quoted the pilot treestar Feb 2015 #48
Sid is the media decider. Iteration 3. DisgustipatedinCA Feb 2015 #51
Ooooh, like a little puppy dog, following me around from thread to thread... SidDithers Feb 2015 #52
I already feel regret For what I posted, Sid. DisgustipatedinCA Feb 2015 #54
You're OK with using conservative sources to attack Democrats at DU?... SidDithers Feb 2015 #55
You keep asking that question absent any reason to ask it. DisgustipatedinCA Feb 2015 #57
Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge... SidDithers Feb 2015 #58
Tell you what, Sid-O, you ask a question based in truth, and I'll try to answer it. DisgustipatedinCA Feb 2015 #59
.. elias49 Feb 2015 #60
Why do we talk about the journalist? treestar Feb 2015 #53
"Has his reporting on Ukraine and the threats of a new Cold War been so off base as to reveal...." Tommy_Carcetti Feb 2015 #61
Sometimes even good reporters let their narrative biases get the better of them Blue_Tires Feb 2015 #62
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