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Gary Webb 12/15/2004Investigative reporter Gary Webb was found dead last friday in his Carmichael home...I met Gary Webb on two occasions. I made him uncomfortable during both. I don't have a tendency to gush over celebrity, and Gary, it seemed, wasn't used to being approached as one. But when I saw him that first time, in the audience at a Consumnes River production of Bertolt Brecht, I got excited. I had come alone, but wanted so desperately to blurt out "That's Gary Webb!" to anyone who'd listen. I'm pretty shy, but I just had to say something. I was gushing about his book Dark Alliance. It was awkward. And it was only afterword, when the panic of encounter was gone that the straightforward comment I should have said occurred to me: "I just want to thank you for all the work you've done as an investigative journalist." Our second encounter was also brief. Gary had come into my bookstore and was browsing. I was calmer and did say words along those lines. He was working for the Senate Office of Research I think he said, but was doing research on folks like Karl Rove for a future book. I even ordered him a copy of a book on Rove's influence and was excited to be, in some small way, connected with his investigative efforts. What Gary Webb went through to tell his Iran-Contra story gives some insight into the difficulty of being a journalist dedicated to ferreting out the truth. And while I envy and admire people like Webb, or Seymour Hersh and I.F. Stone for what they've done, what they've said, how they've stood on principle... I know there is a price to pay for those who speak the truth in a culture that isn't always happy to hear it.
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