Sy cut his teeth as a journalist in Chicago at the City News Bureau and then got a job at the Associated Press (AP) in Chicago. Did Civil Rights reporting, which is very interesting. Then was assigned to the Pentagon in Washington, DC, which he sort of laughs about: “The Pentagon probably regrets that.” He quickly learned what the government was saying about the [Vietnam] war were lies. So, he became increasingly disillusioned, increasingly skeptical, and he also started working with people who were part of the antiwar movement.
He quite the AP, he actually briefly joined the antiwar campaign of [Senator] Eugene McCarthy, he was its spokesperson and press secretary for several months because it was a way to try to tell the public about what’s happening with this war. He was obsessed with it. He then quits Eugene and then was working freelance at an office down the hall from Ralph Nader, and he just gets a tip.
A theme throughout the film is obviously government abuse of power. But also the failure of the legacy media to do its job. To be critical of the wars, when they are happening, when people are dying.
And the tip says there’s going to be a court-martial. There’s a soldier in the Army who’s going to get court-martialed. No name, no details, something about somebody shooting people up, but not really specifics. His instincts told him he needed to follow this story — and he did. He went to the Pentagon, talked to a general, got the name [Lieutenant William] Calley, then tracked down his lawyer [George W. Latimer]. Sy describes the lawyer taking out the charge sheet and he sees there’s a massacre of civilians.
Then Sy gets on a plane to try to find this guy, Calley. And tracks him down at Fort Benning. So, then he has the story. He knows there was a massacre; he knows the name of the soldier. Then he’s struggling to get it published. Which is shocking, right? You’d think that this is a big story, that everybody would want it. But…
Auteur: Laura Poitras
