The CIA and the Media

Updated: March 2025
Published: June 2016

High-quality documentaries and investigations on CIA media influence.

Introduction: CIA media manipulation

CIA whistleblower John Stockwell on CIA media manipulation (3 min., source: 1983 interview)

1. Documentaries

A) Short Videos

Operation Mockingbird (William Colby, 10 minutes, 1975)
The CIA and Fake News (Channel 4, 12 minutes, 1985)
The PROMIS Affair (Current Affairs, 20 min., 1993; more)
CIA Whistleblowers Speak Out (Otis Group, 45 min., 1998)
The Strategy of Tension (Metanoia Films, 15 minutes, 2013)
How the CIA Buys the News (Udo Ulfkotte, 15 minutes, 2014)
The Hippies and the CIA (Dave McGowan, 50 minutes, 2015)
How the CIA influences Hollywood (Al Jazeera, 10 min., 2017)
The CIA and the News Media (Corbett Report, 40 min., 2022)

B) Long Videos

In The Pay of the CIA (CBS News, 60 min., 1967)
On Company Business (Francovich, 180 min., 1980)
Operation Gladio (BBC Timewatch, 150 min., 1992)
Hidden Hands: Cultural Cold War (Channel 4, 60 min., 1995)
Secrets of the CIA (Sky One Channel, 90 minutes, 2006)
George Orwell and the CIA (SpyCulture, 60 min., 2015)
MK Ultra: Mission Mind Control (ABC News, 1979)

C) Geopolitics & Wars

USAID: A Global Influence Operation (SPR, 2025)
The CIA Enters the Cocaine Trade (TAE, 25 minutes, 2021)
The CIA as Organized Crime (Doug Valentine, 120 min., 2017)
CIA-NATO Arming of Terrorists in Syria (Newsbud, 10 min., 2017)
How the CIA trained terrorist groups during the Cold War (TAE, 2021)
Operation Condor: The CIA in Latin America (HS, 30 min., 2022)
The War on Democracy (John Pilger, 90 minutes, 2007)
The CIA in Tibet (TNP, 10 minutes, 2018)

D) American Journalists

Tucker Carlson: A Company Man? (Chaddington, 20 min., 2021)
When a Military Psyop Unit Worked at CNN (TSM, 10 min., 2017)
CNN’s Anderson Cooper Confronted (WAC, 2 minutes, 2015)
Noam Chomsky and the Gatekeepers of the Left (Zwicker, 2007)
Alex Jones: Disinformation Agent (SPR, 25 minutes, 2024)
Elon Musk: Tech Genius or CIA Front Man? (Reese, 2023)

E) Whistleblowers

Frank Snepp (USC, 16 minutes, 1983)
Ralph McGehee (USC, 12 minutes, 1983)
John Stockwell (USC, 15 minutes, 1983)
Philip Agee (Alt. Views, 10 minutes, 1995)
Victor Ostrovsky (Mossad, 60 min., 1995)
Annie Machon (MI6, 60 minutes, 2009)

F) Video collections

2. Articles

3. Books

Inside the Company: CIA Diary (Philip Agee, 1975; interview)
Who Paid the Piper? The Cultural Cold War (Frances Saunders, 2000)
The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America (Hugh Wilford, 2008)
The CIA as Organized Crime (Douglas Valentine, Clarity Press, 2016)
Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet (Y. Levine, 2018)
Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since WW II (W. Blum, 2022)

4. Quotes

“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.” CIA Director William Casey, in a meeting with US President Ronald Reagan in February 1981. Quoted by Barbara Honegger, who was present at the meeting. Casey estimated that over 80% of intelligence was based on open public sources like newspapers and magazines; thus, disinforming the Soviets required disinforming the American public. (Source)
“The CIA is not now nor has it ever been a central intelligence agency. It is the covert action arm of the President’s foreign policy advisers. () Disinformation is a large part of its covert action responsibility, and the American people are the primary target audience of its lies.” Former CIA case officer and whistleblower Ralph McGehee in his 1983 book Deadly Deceits. (Source)
“They said our intelligence of Nicaragua was so good that we could even register when someone flushed a toilet. But I had the feeling that the stories we were giving to the press came straight out of the toilet.” Former CIA analyst David MacMichael in a 1985 Channel 4 TV report. (Source)

5. German Resources

A) Artikel

Axel Springer und die CIA (The Nation, 1982)
Die Atlantik-Brücke und die CIA (Telepolis, 2017)
Das deutsche Transatlantik-Netzwerk (SPR, 2017)

B) Dokus

Die Akte BND (Zweiteilige 3Sat-Doku, 2019, 90 Minuten)
Deckname Gladio: Geheime NATO-Truppen (ZDF, 2015, 45 Min.)
Gladio – Geheimarmeen in Europa (Arte-Doku, 2010, 90 Min.)
V-Mann-Land – Spitzel im Staatsauftrag (ARD, 2015, 45 Min.)
Land unter Kontrolle (3Sat/Foschepoth, 2014, 45 Min.)
Operation Wunderland (WDR-Doku, 2008, 120 Minuten)
Künstler im Netz der CIA (ARTE-Doku, 2006, 50 Minuten)
Germany – Made in USA (Phoenix-Doku, 2003, 45 Minuten)
Schachmatt – Strategie einer Revolution (ARTE, 2003, 60 Min.)
Der Tod des Uwe Barschel – Die ganze Geschichte (NDR, 2007)
Operation Zersetzung – Der geheime Terror der Stasi (ZDF, 2013)
Die drei Leben des Willi Pohl: Neonazi, Terorist, CIA-Agent (ZDF, 2018)
Terrormanagement im 21. Jahrhundert (Nuoviso, 2012, 80 Min.)

C) “Rote Armee Fraktion” (RAF)

Die Zerstörung der RAF-Legende (ARD-Brennpunkt, 1992, 45 Min.)
Rote Armee Fraktion: V-Mann Peter Urbach (RHP, 2023, 30 Min.)
False Flags: Das Celler Loch war kein Einzelfall (NDR, 1986, 10 Min.)
RAF und Gladio: Ex-Terrorist Bommi Baumann (2010, 40 Min.)
Buback-Mord: Eine Geheimdienst-Aktion? (KenFM, 2017, 120 min.)

D) “National-Sozialistischer Untergrund” (NSU)

Operation NSU: Neonazis, V-Männer und Agenten (Elsässer, 2013)
Der NSU: Eine Farce mit Folgen (Recap, 30 Minuten, 2017)
Das reihenweise Sterben der NSU-Zeugen (WDR 2016)
“NSU-Morde”: Eine türkische Geheimdienst-Operation (Spiegel, 2011)
Die 10 größten NSU-Mythen (Opposition24, 2018)
“Dönermorde” (Metapedia, 2023; mehr)

E) TV-Beiträge

Transatlantische Medien-Netzwerke (ZDF/Anstalt, 2014, 5 Min.)
Der BND und der Irak-Krieg (ARD-Beitrag, 2010, 30 Minuten)
Terror in Deutschland: Die “Sauerland-Zelle” (ARD, 2008, 10 Min.)
Berlin La Belle Disco-Anschlag: CIA und Mossad (ZDF, 1998, 15 Min.)
“IM Erika”: War Angela Merkel Stasi-Informantin? (FAZ, 2019, 20 Min.)
Blood & Honour: Die “Neonazis” des Verfassungsschutzes (ARD, 2017)

F) Vorträge und Interviews

Der Duale Staat (Dirk Pohlmann, 2018, 120 Minuten)
Im Spinnennetz der Geheimdienste (Westend, 2017, 30 Min.)
Phantom-Terrorismus (Gerhard Wisnewski, 2015, 100 Min.)
Gekaufte Journalisten (Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, 2015, 90 Minuten)
Verdeckte Operationen (Dr. Andreas von Bülow, 2013, 60 Min.)
Skandale des deutschen Verfassungsschutzes (CCC, 2012, 60 Min.)
Die Macher hinter den Kulissen (Hermann Ploppa, 2017, 60 Min.)
Geheimdienste und Terrorismus (Jürgen Elsässer, 2009, 15 Min.)

G) Bücher

Geheimdienst, Politik, Medien (Schmidt-Eenboom, 2004)
Gekaufte Journalisten (Udo Ulfkotte, Kopp Verlag, 2014)
Unheimlich zu Diensten (Ekkehardt/Spoo/Agee, 1987)