Laura Poitras on Seymour Hersh Documentary "Cover-Up"

The 20-Year Journey to "Cover-Up"

• 💡 Director Laura Poitras reveals it took 20 years to convince investigative journalist Seymour Hersh to participate in the documentary "Cover-Up."
• 🎯 Poitras first approached Hersh in 2005, facing repeated refusals until he eventually agreed, recognizing her work on NSA and Edward Snowden.

Seymour Hersh's Career and Impact

• 🚀 Hersh is known for breaking significant stories that often angered US government officials, earning him the moniker "communist agent" from some.
• 📌 The film highlights Hersh's career, focusing on pivotal investigations like the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.
• 🧠 Other key stories covered include the CIA's MK Ultra mind control program and the torture at Abu Ghraib prison.

The Process of Investigative Journalism

• 🔍 The documentary aims to illustrate the methodology of investigative journalism, showing how Hersh develops leads from initial tips to full reports.
• 📚 Hersh's decades of meticulously kept notebooks and documents are presented as a crucial element, serving as evidence and a character in the film.
• 📸 For stories like Abu Ghraib, while initial documentation was key, photographic evidence became undeniable proof of atrocities.

Hersh's Approach and Sources

• 🗺️ A central theme is Hersh's career-long practice of