Investigating a journalist's legacy

A new documentary on reporter Seymour M. Hersh brings into focus the highs, lows and dangers of ethical journalism

- Somak Ghoshal

Seymour M. Hersh's determination to pursue a story, at any cost, landed him in trouble through his career; and (below) a scene from 'Cover-Up'.

(GETTY IMAGES)

In one of the early scenes in Cover-Up, a documentary on Seymour M. Hersh's life and work, the iconic investigative journalist looks straight at the camera, or rather at the filmmakers, Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, behind it, and utters a single stinging sentence: "I barely trust you guys.

The statement looms like an epigraph over the movie, capturing a sentiment that any reporter worth their salt should want to live and work by.

If scepticism is the bulwark of a credible journalist's mindset, so is a certain degree of self-effacement. It is hard to uphold such principles and integrity in these times when careers live and die on the hill of personal branding on social media platforms. But, as recently as 2004, when Poitras approached Hersh, a pioneer among his generation of reporters, to make a movie about his career, he flatly refused. He still wasn't ready to turn himself into the story. Eventually, it took 20 years for Hersh, now 88, to say yes. The result is Cover-Up, a vulnerable, at times raw, take on his life, which was released on Netflix recently to a worldwide audience.