Seymour Hersh walked for 30 minutes through Georgetown in Washington D.C, searching for a newspaper to buy. The streets were eerily quiet with no newsstands or self-service kiosks in sight. Eventually, he found a drugstore that had two copies of the New York Times, buying one and wondering if anyone else had bought the second.
Hersh has been a staff writer at the New York Times and the New Yorker, breaking stories on Vietnam, Watergate, Gaza, and Ukraine. However, with the free press in crisis and newspapers in flux, he doubts his ability to produce investigative journalism today. "The outlets aren't there," he says. "The money's not there. So I don't know where we all are right now."
A new documentary, Cover-Up, directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, explores Hersh's career, giving a vivid sketch of his prickly personality. The film shows Hersh as a natural outsider who rarely lasts long in risk-averse institutions. It highlights the contradictions within the news media and its flawed business model.
The documentary includes an archive clip of Hersh speaking on stage in the 1970s, where he says that what America has is not censorship but self-censorship by the press. Poitras believes this statement is doubly true today, with several major networks rolling over to Trump's authoritarian push and media giants focusing more on personal liberties and free markets.
The situation is alarming, according to Poitras, as institutions are preemptively capitulating to avoid legal battles they would have won. This is shameful and sets a worst precedent. If institutions aren't willing to back aggressive reporting, it's dangerous for everyone involved.
Obenhaus, the co-director of Cover-Up, agrees that times are tough, with the first amendment under siege and an increasingly atomised media landscape. Without gatekeepers on information, good journalism struggles to break through, and people rely on unreliable sources.
Hersh has found a new platform in Substack, where he can write freely without editorial interference. He believes it's a subculture that works financially but lacks the thrill of performing on the big stage.
Cover-Up shows that the journalist's role is sisyphean – an uphill struggle with every triumph being rolled back. Hersh's career-making exposé of the My Lai massacre dismantled the US army's official version, helping to shift public opinion against the war in Vietnam. However, it led to only one soldier being convicted.
With a six-decade career, Hersh has gained perspective on investigative reporting. He knows it can be thankless and fruitless but still speaks truth to power and remains vital for social change. Despite the challenges he faces with Trump's kowtowing and the decline of the press, journalism matters and is necessary.
The premiere of Cover-Up at the Venice film festival was overwhelming for Hersh, moving him to tears. However, in his account, the audience didn't appreciate the film's humour and applauded excessively, leaving him embarrassed.
Hersh has been a staff writer at the New York Times and the New Yorker, breaking stories on Vietnam, Watergate, Gaza, and Ukraine. However, with the free press in crisis and newspapers in flux, he doubts his ability to produce investigative journalism today. "The outlets aren't there," he says. "The money's not there. So I don't know where we all are right now."
A new documentary, Cover-Up, directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, explores Hersh's career, giving a vivid sketch of his prickly personality. The film shows Hersh as a natural outsider who rarely lasts long in risk-averse institutions. It highlights the contradictions within the news media and its flawed business model.
The documentary includes an archive clip of Hersh speaking on stage in the 1970s, where he says that what America has is not censorship but self-censorship by the press. Poitras believes this statement is doubly true today, with several major networks rolling over to Trump's authoritarian push and media giants focusing more on personal liberties and free markets.
The situation is alarming, according to Poitras, as institutions are preemptively capitulating to avoid legal battles they would have won. This is shameful and sets a worst precedent. If institutions aren't willing to back aggressive reporting, it's dangerous for everyone involved.
Obenhaus, the co-director of Cover-Up, agrees that times are tough, with the first amendment under siege and an increasingly atomised media landscape. Without gatekeepers on information, good journalism struggles to break through, and people rely on unreliable sources.
Hersh has found a new platform in Substack, where he can write freely without editorial interference. He believes it's a subculture that works financially but lacks the thrill of performing on the big stage.
Cover-Up shows that the journalist's role is sisyphean – an uphill struggle with every triumph being rolled back. Hersh's career-making exposé of the My Lai massacre dismantled the US army's official version, helping to shift public opinion against the war in Vietnam. However, it led to only one soldier being convicted.
With a six-decade career, Hersh has gained perspective on investigative reporting. He knows it can be thankless and fruitless but still speaks truth to power and remains vital for social change. Despite the challenges he faces with Trump's kowtowing and the decline of the press, journalism matters and is necessary.
The premiere of Cover-Up at the Venice film festival was overwhelming for Hersh, moving him to tears. However, in his account, the audience didn't appreciate the film's humour and applauded excessively, leaving him embarrassed.
. investigative journalism used to be this thing that kept us on our toes, held those in power accountable... now it seems like its all about clicks and advertising revenue 
. seymour hersh is like the last of a dying generation... it's sad to see someone as iconic as him struggle with the changing landscape of journalism 
. substack might be an option for some, but its not the same as being part of a major outlet... or even just having the freedom to write without fear of reprisal 
. i guess what hes saying is that good journalism matters no matter what, and we should all be supporting it in whatever way we can 
. I mean, Seymour Hersh is a legend and all, but it's crazy that he can't even get a newspaper to buy in Georgetown anymore 
. It's like, what's happening to investigative journalism? The whole film Cover-Up seems to be saying the same thing - the press isn't where it used to be, financially or in terms of credibility.
. That's just not okay, you know? Good journalism should be about holding people in power accountable, but if nobody's willing to do it anymore, who's going to speak truth to power?
. At least he can still write freely and share his ideas with people. And I love that the film Cover-Up is shining a light on this crisis - it's an important conversation to be having 
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. With his impressive track record of exposing major stories like Watergate and Vietnam, it's hard not to respect his perspective on the current state of affairs 
. The fact that he's struggling to find outlets willing to publish his work is a clear indicator of how far the press has fallen 
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. He believes that the press has become too focused on protecting its own interests rather than telling the truth, and that this is leading to a kind of "authoritarian push" 
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. On one hand, it's great that he can maintain some degree of creative control and publish his work freely 
. On the other hand, I worry about the commercial viability of this model and whether it will ultimately lead to a homogenization of voices 
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, even in the face of adversity. His career has shown us that journalism matters, and we need people like him who are willing to take risks and challenge the status quo 
. The situation's serious, Poitras is on point with this doco about the self-censorship thingy 
. And what really gets me is how gatekeepers are disappearing and good journalism is getting lost in the noise 
. I mean, have you seen some of these new platforms? Substack, etc... it's all about the money, right?