How the CIA Hoodwinked Hollywood Since its inception, the agency has wooed filmmakers, producers, and actors in order to present a rosy portrait of its operations to the American public. –Atlantic
This is a good article by the Atlantic, a neo-con publication that aspires to be a “thought publication.”
This article rehearses the history of the CIA in Hollywood and, in fact, is fairly comprehensive and touches on a number of compelling points.
More;
The CIA has a long history of “spooking the news,” dating back to its earliest days when the legendary spymaster Allen Dulles and his top staff drank and dined regularly with the press elite of New York and Washington, and the agency boasted hundreds of U.S. and foreign journalists as paid and unpaid assets.
In 1977, after this systematic media manipulation was publicly exposed by congressional investigations, the CIA created an Office of Public Affairs that was tasked with guiding press coverage of intelligence matters in a more transparent fashion.
The agency insists that it no longer maintains a stable of friendly American journalists, and that its efforts to influence the press are much more above board. But, in truth, the intelligence empire’s efforts to manufacture the truth and mold public opinion are more vast and varied than ever before. One of its foremost assets? Hollywood.
This is an honest appraisal so far as it goes. As is the article’s conclusion:
With few exceptions, Hollywood has long functioned as a propaganda factory, churning out jingoistic revenge-fantasy films in which American audiences are allowed to exorcise their post-9/11 demons by watching the satisfying slaughter of countless onscreen jihadis.
This never-ending parade of square-jawed secret agents and bearded, pumped-up commandos pitted against swarthy Muslim madmen straight out of central casting has been aided and abetted by a newly emboldened CIA all too happy to offer its “services” to Hollywood.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
