A month later, Webb was transferred to Cupertino and told he was no longer an investigative reporter.

Webb was told he was being transferred because of how he responded to the paper’s "review process." He now believes that this was management’s way of saying that they were unhappy he disagreed with their assessment of how significant the Contra-linked "Dark Alliance" drug ring was in spawning the crack epidemic in south central Los Angeles. "It was a disagreement on epidemiology," he said.

Given his union contract, Webb couldn’t be fired. In fact, after his transfer to Cupertino, the Newspaper Guild prompted arbitration hearings. When he left the paper, Webb signed a confidentiality agreement which prevents him from discussing the terms of his departure. He now works for the Joint Legislative Staff Task Force on Government Oversight in Sacramento. (Through an email interview, Ceppos declined to be more specific or contradict Webb’s version of events concerning how Webb and his follow-up stories were handled by the Mercury News.)

Pulling the rug out

In assessing the story and its aftermath, some journalists have been struck by the fact that Webb took the blame for the series alone. That’s the reaction of James Aucoin, a former journalist and now a University of South Alabama communications professor who specializes in the history of investigative reporting. Aucoin said that Webb "followed all the standard operating procedures. Any errors could have been corrected in follow-up stories without destroying him or his career."

"If there’s any bad guys in this," Aucoin continued, "it’s the people at his newspaper. They pulled the rug out from under him. The editors had the responsibility to make sure the story was done right and make sure the documents were correct. They had just as much responsibility for oversight. Yet he’s the one who took the fall."

Reflecting on the history of Watergate coverage, Aucoin noted that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein "were not particularly supported by their fellow colleagues outside the Washington Post. The reason those stories were allowed to continue was because Ben Bradlee and Mrs. [Kathaine] Graham allowed them," he said. "You see the tremendous importance of editors and publishers at a publication. If they’re not willing to back the reporter, the report is not going to get done."

While Webb doesn’t deny that he was abandoned by the Mercury News’ editors, he said he was given a chance to rejoin the club. "I was out on a limb because I chose to be," he said. "If I had gone along with the crowd and been willing to say, ‘Yeah, we should have done that and that,’ I’m sure I would still be there. I felt strongly we got the thing right the first time."

Another aspect of the "Dark Alliance" aftermath which strikes Aucoin as significant is who attacked the story. In the days when investigative journalist Ida Tarbell took on Standard Oil in the pages of Harper’s, Standard Oil came after Tarbell. "In the case of Gary Webb’s charges against the CIA and the Contras," he said, "the major dailies came after him. Media institutions are now part of the establishment and they have a lot invested in that establishment."

Webb thinks the source of the attacks makes perfect sense. "The government side of the story is coming through the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Washington Post," he said. "They use the giant corporate press rather than saying anything directly. If you work through friendly reporters on major newspapers, it comes off as the New York Times saying it and not a mouthpiece of the CIA."

As for the impact of Webb’s experience on other journalists, Aucoin expects it to have a "chilling effect on the whole practice [of investigative reporting.] If reporters are asked to do a story and then they lose their careers over it, why should they even attempt to do the stories.? It sends a major message to reporters about the kind of information they’re supposed to come back with."

So if politically sensitive investigations are unwelcome in many of the nation’s newspapers, are there outlets for such stories? Webb credits the Internet (as well as talk radio) with generating the national uproar over the Dark Alliance story. Recalling the press freeze-out in response to AP’s initial Contragate investigations, Webb said, "What [the national media] did with Parry and Barger was try and ignore them, and to a large extent, they succeeded. When they couldn’t ignore the stuff we did [at the Mercury News], they came after us. Back in 1985, Parry and Barger didn’t have the luxury of the Internet. Our website made it accessible to people who ordinarily couldn’t read or hear about it."

But the Internet, however valuable, is still only an ancillary distribution mechanism which can’t support the costs of investigative journalism. Nor does it have the credibility of the nation’s newspapers and magazines. Thus initial publication of such controversial material remains problematic.

After leaving the Associated Press for Newsweek and leaving Newsweek for independence, Bob Parry decided to launch his own magazine called I.F., named for journalistic maverick I.F. Stone and George Seldes’ publication In fact. "To do what I want to do," said Parry, "I think I.F. is the only option to report on these topics in an honest way."

"Even if you go to the left press, there’s a lot of uneasiness about these stories," Parry continued. "Editors are afraid of being called conspiracy theorists. People say it’s old. It’s a hard sell. I got tired of making it sell."

Given his experience the last two years, Webb is a convert to Parry’s way of thinking. "The only way you’re going to do effective journalism is to be truly independent," he said. "It’s a difficult thing to do, but George Seldes and I.F. Stone did it. There’s no reason modern-day journalists can’t do it too. You don’t get 401-Ks and health benefits, but at least you get to tell the truth."