August 20 is the anniversary of the start of the investigation into journalist Daniel Schorr in 1973. The corrupt dictator Richard Nixon had assembled a list of political enemies, and today was the day that Daniel Schorr (“a real media enemy”) was set to receive his dose of “use of the available federal machinery to screw [with Nixon’s] political enemies.”

Schorr had drawn Nixon’s ire through reporting of inconvenient truths about the government and the US’ many social problems. After Nixon’s order, the FBI began an investigation to try to dig up some dirt under the cover of a background check for consideration of a government position. Eventually this obviously lie was uncovered, but the administration reframed it as a one off miscommunication, and eventually managed to sweep it under the rug. Aside from some additional embarrasment for Richard Nixon during the Watergate incident, nobody in government paid any sort of price for this.

Daniel Schorr was fired from CBS a few years later after revealing additional crimes committed by the FBI, CIA, and NSA. There’s a shorter analysis published by The Village Voice

It’s a very good read, but I want to highlight two paragraphs:

It may surprise some to discover that the largest single category of covert activity concerned tampering with free elections around the world. These election operations make up a full 32 percent of the covert action projects approved by the Forty Committee since 1965. The report says the operations usually mean “providing some form of financial election support to foreign parties and individuals. Such support could be negative as well as positive.” Most of the money has gone to developing countries and generally “to incumbent moderate party leaders and heads of state.” One “Third World leader” received $960,000 over a 14-year period.

The second largest covert action category is “media and propaganda.” The committee found that 29 percent of the covert projects approved by the Forty Committee fell under this heading. The report says: “Activities have included support of friendly media, major propaganda efforts, insertion of articles into the local press, and distribution of books and leaflets. By far the largest single recipient has been a European publishing house funded since 1951.… About 25 percent of the program has been directed at the Soviet Bloc, in the publication and clandestine import and export of Western and Soviet dissident literature.”

Over 50% of the CIA budget is spent on lying to the people of the world. All of this is a clear showing of the corrupt (and often hilariously incompetent) regime’s repression of the media in order to serve its own interest and preserve its own power. The truth is the enemy. Those who expose their lies are removed, and buried under more lies as the lies are quickly forgotten and forgiven by their flag waving populace.