Editing Operation Mockingbird (section)

==Historical Context==
Initiated during the height of the Cold War, Operation Mockingbird emerged in a climate of intense ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. The CIA, under leaders like Frank Wisner, director of the Office of Policy Coordination, and later [[Allen Dulles]], director of the CIA, sought to counter communist influence through media manipulation. The program allegedly responded to efforts like the Prague-based International Organization of Journalists, which was reportedly funded by Moscow to promote communist narratives. The CIA’s strategy included both overt and covert methods to ensure media aligned with U.S. policy objectives.

Among the news executives taking part were William Paley of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), Henry Luce of Time, Inc., Arthur Sulzberger are of the New York Times, Barry Bingham, Sr of the Louisville Courier Journal, and James Copley of Copley Press. Entire news organizations eventually became part of Mockingbird, including the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the Associated Press, United Press International (owned by the Unification Church of South Korea), Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps Howard, Newsweek, the Mutual Broadcasting System, the Miami Herald, the Saturday Evening Post, and the New York Herald Tribune. Over four hundred journalist were involved along with many mainstream news outlets.