Protesters Picket Times Over Coverage of CIA / Crack Story

As part of demonstrations in four cities, protesters Monday picketed the Los Angeles Times in downtown Los Angeles to decry newspaper coverage of alleged CIA involvement in the crack cocaine trade in the United States.

Organized by a media watchdog group called Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), about 100 people--some dressed as snowmen and others operating an artificial snow machine--protested what they called a “snow job” by The Times, the Washington Post and the New York Times in dismissing allegations that CIA-backed Nicaraguan Contras imported cocaine into South-Central Los Angeles.

The Times coverage, said FAIR representative Norman Solomon, has been “disingenuous at best and actually, I think . . . very dishonest.”

In a statement, Times Editor and Executive Vice President Shelby Coffey III said: “In an exhaustive three-part series last October, The Times investigated allegations that a CIA-sponsored drug ring funneled millions of dollars to the Nicaraguan Contras and, in the process, opened the first pipeline for crack cocaine to Los Angeles. We looked at what the real sources of crack in L.A. were, and to what degree the CIA was involved in the crack epidemic. Our investigation found that the crack epidemic followed no master plan and was not orchestrated by the Contras, the CIA or any single drug ring. The explosion of crack in Los Angeles was a uniquely egalitarian phenomenon.”

Demonstrations were also staged Monday in New York, Washington and San Francisco, organizers said.