Cover-Up documents the many different stories broken by the acclaimed journalist Seymour (Sy) Hersch. By getting into his life and background, Cover-Up creates a candid portrait of a man who has covered scandals and conspiracies of the most powerful countries and people on earth. Hersch seemed to always be at the center of the great American cover-ups of the past and it chronicles the many obstacles he faced while trying to expose these stories to the public.
The events and information that you learn from the documentary alone are very interesting as the film captures the spirit and gusto of Hersch’s writing by combining his headlines, photos and interviews with great archival footage. It is edited in such a way that the story feels immersive and truly delivers on being both entertaining and hugely important. The more interesting part to me though was the insight into just how different and difficult journalism has become in the modern day. Still, as a prominent figure in journalism, we see Hersch have to use substack to gain revenue from an audience. These moments combined with the great support we hear Hersch got in trying to break these difficult stories is an alarm to how journalism that seeks the truth for the people is in peril. One may think, with so many writers trying to make ends meet without proper backing, that so many stories and articles may never get its proper platform. The film dares to ask if journalism in the hands of the masses will be enough when we lack figures like Hirsch investigating the facts.
The film is well-edited and features great use of interviews with Hersch who is an interesting, witty subject. The archival footage also seems extraordinary. It’s almost hard to believe at times that some conversations like those involving President Nixon were actually recorded. All of Hersch’s greatest exposes come to life on film, as does he. However, with video as the future of truth and AI threatening to dupe that truth, is what we have enough?
Cover-Up is playing at TIFF ’25. For more information, click here.
