Americans love a good conspiracy theory, and plenty have been bandied about, but what about conspiracy theories that turned out to be, well, not theoretical at all?

The CIA has long played the international propaganda game an intelligence agency requires, and during the Cold War, the Agency paid and intimidated journalists into helping promote its messages. Famous Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein broke a story in 1977 for Rolling Stone revealing the workings of Operation Mockingbird, in which many journalists – including Pulitzer Prize winners – joined the CIA’s payroll, writing fake stories to disseminate the Agency’s agitprop and providing intelligence. Many journalists were threatened and blackmailed into cooperating with Operation Mockingbird. Several others were given fabricated or falsified information about their actions to engender their support for the CIA’s mission.

Operation Mockingbird was a covert campaign launched by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Cold War era. The operation aimed to influence media organizations and journalists domestically and internationally to spread propaganda and manipulate public opinion. The program began in the early 1950s and lasted until at least the mid-1970s, although the full extent of its activities remains unknown.

The origins of Operation Mockingbird can be traced back to the Cold War when the United States government became increasingly concerned about the spread of communist ideology and influence throughout the world. The CIA was tasked with carrying out covert operations to combat this perceived threat, and one of the ways it did so was by manipulating the media to promote pro-American narratives and discredit anti-American voices.

Under Operation Mockingbird, the CIA…

 

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