'Cover-Up': A reporter against the impunity of power and the horror of war

"Seymour M. Hersh, 88, greets you with the phrase it's worse than you think on his Substack blog, where he has more than 230,000 followers. He is not an opinion writer. He is an investigative journalist who has spent six decades exposing government abuses with exclusives such as the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, the abuses of Iraqi prisoners in the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison, and the alleged CIA sabotage of several gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea at the start of the war in Ukraine."

"Unflinching in its depiction of the extreme violence of U.S. society and built on spectacular archival footage, the documentary portrays both the highs and lows of a legendary reporter known for his tenacity in confronting abuses of military, economic, and political power."

"Hersh admits that in the darkest hours of his investigation he called his wife, Elisabeth Klein, a psychoanalyst, from a phone booth, crying over the horrors he was uncovering. And Myrtle Meadlo, the mother of Paul Meadlo, a soldier involved in the My Lai killings, says on camera in a recording recovered in the documentary, as if looking straight into the eyes of the government officials of the time: I sent them a good boy, and they made him a murderer."

Seymour Hersh is a renowned investigative journalist with over 230,000 Substack followers who has spent six decades exposing government abuses. His major investigations include the My Lai massacre during Vietnam, Abu Ghraib prison abuses, and alleged CIA sabotage of Baltic Sea pipelines during the Ukraine war. The Netflix documentary Cover-Up, directed by Laura Poitras and Jeff Obenhaus, chronicles Hersh's career and investigative process. The film features archival footage and declassified conversations, including President Nixon acknowledging Hersh's accuracy despite his critical reporting. The documentary reveals the emotional toll of Hersh's investigations, particularly his work on My Lai, which deeply affected his health and shocked American society.

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