The study “The dance of shadows: The New York Times and the CIA” by Chunfeng Lin from East China Normal University looked at the complex relationship between foreign correspondents of the New York Times and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
American journalism, supported by the First Amendment, is almost unique in the World in challenging its own “intelligence community”, but at the same time, according to the author, the involvement of journalists in CIA operations remains a constant concern.
It is against this background that the study explores the relationship and dynamic between the New York Times and CIA during the Cold War between the US and the USSR.
The author argues that the relationship was characterized by “struggles for autonomy, shifts in press norms, and the delicate equilibrium between national security imperatives and journalistic principles”.
Although the topic has been studied previously (Aldrich 2015 and 2021, Jones 2015), this study addresses three gaps in the existing research: first, it focuses on the organization and senior editors rather than individual journalists; second, the study prioritizes the viewpoint of journalism studies over CIA narratives; and third, the archival material studied lends new insights into NYT self-censorship, the potential repercussions faced by journalists from the CIA, and detailed recruitment of journalists by CIA.
The archival sources employed by the study the James Reston Papers 1935-1995 held at University of Illinois and declassified documents available in the CIA’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Electronic Reading Room.
James B. “Scotty” Reston (1909-1995) had a tenure at the NYT from 1939 to 1989, during the time he held numerous roles, from a reporter to an editor to a vice president. The Papers include correspondence, publications, manuscripts, memoranda, reports, speeches, and interview transcripts.
The author divided the relationship into three distinct periods: the 1960s and earlier, characterized by pre-war legacies, technological leaps, and geopolitical transformations; 1970s, characterized by battling with the CIA; and 1980s and onwards, when CIA resumed its recruitment of journalists.
In conclusion, the study revealed a complex interplay of influences between the news media and intelligence agencies, a “dance of shadows”. The article shows how NYT “navigated CIA pressures, engaged in self-censorship, and delicately balanced national security concerns against journalistic principles”.
The author argues that this “dance” is a distinctive feature of the American media landscape. While such linkages may exist in other global newsrooms, the distinctive flair and intricacies remain uniquely American.
In the digital era, it is doubtful we will gain insight on similar linkages barring a Wikileaks type revelation event, but it is possible that history may be repeating itself in this case.
The article “The dance of shadows: The New York Times and the CIA” by Chunfeng Lin is in Journalism. (free abstract).
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