Movie : Kill The Messenger

The underlying gripe of this true 1990s story of an American journalist uncovering a national story about CIA antics is why did his colleagues fail to support him? The thriller chronicles Gary Webb, who after uncovering a story of how drugs were flooding the streets of California, then stumbled across proof that the CIA were involved in this. The money raised through drug sales funded the rebel army in Nicaragua, where Webb found himself to interview a prisoner for the inside facts. Despite being held at gunpoint here by the local forces when talking to another source, he insists on uncovering the truth.At first, his paper (the San Jose Mercury News - been to that city!) gets behind him and he is quickly voted journalist of the year by his industry peers. Then the pressure from the CIA to kill the story gets to them and Webb is sent to a small local newspaper until it all quietens down. Of course he carries on investigating the CIA angle and so a national smear campaign to rubbish his credentials ensues, with no support from any of his colleagues. For me, the film hinged on the moment when Webb went to collect his award; will he make a stand or have a meltdown?I was still working in the newspaper industry during this time and I found the San José Mercury News paper's behaviour to be appalling. He is doing the exact job is he is paid to do and yet no one rallied around him. I just wanted to shout at him, bring it to the Sunday Times! Did he, I wonder?Like Birdman was a terrible portrayal of the acting industry, this is an appalling representation of my cherished newspaper industry.7½/10Smile Factor 6/10