Salomon asserts that establishment newspapers have done damage control for the CIA after San Jose Mercury News series reported on the CIA contra-drug story. He cites their reliance on CIA officials and implicated CIA agents as sources to exonerate the CIA. Peter Cornblue, who wrote an article in the Columbia Journalism Review on the subject, agrees with Salomon in that mainstream newspapers have endeavored to discredit SJ Mercury News in an effort to cover up their own failure in reporting the story. Cornblue, while acknowledging the importance of such reporting as the SJ Mercury News series, also notes the shortcomings of Gary Webb’s piece and how an even-handed reading of the series shows Webb went out of his way to implicate the CIA.