Gary Webb hero or zero?

Was Gary Webb a journalism hero or a zero? Honestly in my opinion he was a hero. He may not have been completely successful or accredited with his work, but when you take on the heads of the Unites States government agencies, who really can win? I think that the fact he had the guts to take the government head on in the first place makes him a hero. He had to be incredibly brave in order to investigate the CIA and challenge their involvement with the guerrilla army in Nicaragua and America's crack-cocaine epidemic. He wrote the articles regardless of all the criticism he was going to have to face from the American public let alone having to fear the loss of his job and reputation of the company he worked for. His own newspaper company that he worked for was not even completely supportive of his work and even admitted that he was getting out of line, Webb ended up resigning and writing a book t defend his articles. Soon newspapers wouldn’t print his letters because they were worried about their own reputations. Major newspapers tried to silence him by questioning his credibility and personal and professional character but he kept going anyway because he believed in justice and truth for the American people like any good journalist/reporter should do. After all, the job of the press is to inform the American people.

I don’t thing Gary Webb had a chance from the beginning, and I think he knew that too, but for him that wasn’t the point. He wanted to shed light on a major issue that had been being overlooked and bring it to the American people’s attention and maybe in the process inspire other journalists to do the same. Fight for what they believe in and give people the truth, and that’s exactly what he did. After Webb’s articles came out and the federal investigations had been announced, several other newspapers starting doing their own investigations and writing articles including many big papers like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. Gary Webb challenged one of the most powerful agencies of the United States government, completely knowing the depth and extremities of their power, knowing they could ruin him or make him disappear like it was nothing, but he did it anyway, and if that doesn’t make him a hero, I don’t  know what does.