Kill the Messenger (28 page)
Read Kill the Messenger Online
Authors: Nick Schou
I met Webb just once, during his 1998 book tour, but kept in touch with him until shortly before his death. I should also point out that in 1993, I worked for three months as an
intern for David Corn, Washington editor of the
Nation
magazine, who as this book shows, both criticized and defended Webb's reporting.
Kill the Messenger
would not have been possible without the cooperation of many people, but especially Webb's family: Susan, Ian, Kurt, and Anita. I would also like to thank everyone else who spoke to me for this projectâWebb's friends, colleagues, supporters, and particularly his detractors, who did so despite their knowledge that my book entailed a serious critique of their coverage of the “Dark Alliance” scandal: Tom Andrzejewski, Jeremy Bigwood, Jack Blum, Walt Bogdanich, Pete Carey, Gary Clark, Alexander Cockburn, Marc Cooper, David Corn, Mike Crosby, Rex Davenport, Tom Dresslar, Dawn Garcia, Tim Golden, Lee Gomes, Scott Herhold, Martha Honey, Jesse Katz, Chris Knap, Peter Kornbluh, Pamela Kramer, Jonathan Krim, Howard Kurtz, Tom Loftus, Steve Luttner, Joe Madison, Doyle McManus, Paul Moreira, Annie Nocenti, Bob Parry, Walter Pincus, Bert Robinson, Mike Ruppert, Adam Saytanides, Tom Scheffey, Mary Anne Sharkey, Dan Simon, Tom Suddes, Vance Trimble, Sanho Tree, Tom Walsh, Leo Wolinsky, and Greg Wolf.
I'd also like to thank my former editor at
OC Weekly
, Will Swaim, who tutored me as a writer and investigative reporter for the past decade, and who encouraged me in this project. Jesse Fenichel and my wife Claudia Schou provided invaluable support by reading early drafts of this manuscript, and Charles Bowden generously allowed me use of his unpublished notes from his 1998 interview with Webb for
Esquire
Magazine.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to Mike Davis at the University of California, Irvine, who inspired me to write this book and helped me find a publisher, and to my editors, Ruth Baldwin and Carl Bromley, for believing in this story and trusting in my ability to do it justice. Special thanks to Peter Landesman, Naomi Despres, Scott Stuber, Jeremy Renner and his producing partner at The Combine, Don Handfield, Michael Cuesta, and everyone at Focus Features who helped make the filming of this book possible. More than anything else,
Kill the Messenger
owes its origin to a talented journalist who tragically, will never read it. “From one newsman to anotherâkeep the faith,” Webb once told me. I only wish that somehow he had been able to do the same.
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