About this item
Kill the Messenger tells the story of the tragic death of Gary Webb, the controversial newspaper reporter who committed suicide in December 2004. Webb is the former San Jose Mercury News reporter whose 1996 "Dark Alliance" series on the so-called CIA-crack cocaine connection created a firestorm of controversy and led to his resignation from the paper amid escalating attacks on his work by the mainstream media. Author and investigative journalist Nick Schou published numerous articles on the controversy and was the only reporter to significantly advance Webb's stories. Drawing on exhaustive research and highly personal interviews with Webb's family, colleagues, supporters and critics, this book argues convincingly that Webb's editors betrayed him, despite mounting evidence that his stories were correct.
About the Author
Nicholas Schou is an award-winning journalist with 25 years of experience in print media. He is the former Editor in Chief of OC Weekly, Southern California's source of news and entertainment. He is also the author of several books on national security, the media, and the war on drugs. His 2006 book Kill the Messenger was made into a 2014 Hollywood feature film starring Jeremy Renner. Schou has also worked as a story producer for the 2017 History Channel series on the U.S. War on Drugs and the 2019 Netflix Europe documentary on the Sinaloa cartel.
