Page "Perception management" Paragraph 31

Beginning in the 1950s, news media and public information organizations and individuals carried out assignments to manage the public's perception of the CIA, according to the New York Times.

Carl Bernstein wrote in 1977 that " The CIA in the 1950's, ' 60's, and even early 70's had concentrated its relationships with journalists in the most prominent sectors of the American press corps, including four or five of the largest newspaper in the country, the broadcast networks, and the two major weekly news magazines.

" David Atlee Phillips, a former CIA station chief in Mexico City, described the method of recruitment years later to Bernstein: " Somebody from the Agency says, ' I want you to sign a piece of paper before I tell you what it's about.

' I didn't hesitate to sign, and a lot of newsmen didn't hesitate over the next twenty years.