The Manchurian Journalist documents for readers that their concerns about American journalism are justified. It shows that as the watchdog of democracy journalism has, since the Cold War, been compromised by influences unseen and unheard by the public in deciding what people read, hear and subsequently believe.

This cultural cold war, led by a CIA and State Department-tied political strategy, involved major news outlets, magazine and book publishers, and worked through a network of unsigned intelligence 'agents' - and influential institutions, foundations and government agencies - to propagandise the American public, challenge socialism and communism, and preserve an elite 'Establishment'.