Operation Tailwind: Valley of Death

REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana

Wondery | Ballen Studios

True Crime, History

4.3 • 668 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s 1998 and CNN produces a documentary blowing the lid off of one America's most secret military operations in the Vietnam war, Operation Tailwind. But after the documentary airs, the news organization quickly learns that they got the story wrong. How does one of America’s most trusted names in news release such a flawed report? How did it impact the military? And why does one journalist still stand behind the story?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Love unsettling stories.
0:02.4	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to redacted, declassified mysteries,
0:06.4	early and ad-free, as well as another twisted tale from Bollin Studios and Wondry called Wartime Stories,
0:12.8	also hosted by me, Early and Ad-Free on Wondry Plus.
0:16.7	Start your free trial today.
0:32.6	On June 7, 1998, CNN News Group CEO Tom Johnson sat at his desk in his corner office, overlooking the massive newsroom in Midtown Atlanta.
0:35.6	Below him, the workspace buzzed with energy.
0:38.3	Journalists darted between desks, and banks of monitors flickered with breaking news reports.
0:43.3	Johnson was in his element and loved his job.
0:46.3	He was known as a no-nonsense leader, and he was well respected by his team.
0:50.3	In the nearly 20 years since CNN first launch, the 24-hour cable network had become the most influential source in television news.
0:57.5	It changed the landscape for how people learned about breaking news, with correspondence all over the world ready to report at a moment's notice.
1:04.9	It was Johnson's job to build on CNN's dominance and drive up the ratings.
1:11.1	Johnson turned when he heard a tap on his door.
1:13.8	His secretary rushed in and said he had a call from a retired general who was CNN's
1:17.9	military analyst.
1:19.5	She warned him that the general sounded annoyed.
1:21.9	But Johnson was used to putting out fires and dealing with people who were upset, so his
1:26.0	secretary's warning didn't alarm him.
1:28.2	As soon as Johnson picked up the phone, the general's bristling tone made it clear he was
1:32.3	outraged. He told the CEO he'd received some disturbing news. The general had been informed that
1:38.3	a segment about a covert military operation in Southeast Asia was scheduled to air on CNN the next night.
	...

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