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Netflix's 'Cover-Up' Director Laura Poitras on ICE, US Surveillance - The Mishal Husain Show
Jan 29, 2026 The Mishal Husain Show
The killing of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis has made January a dark month for many across America. Both Alex Pretti and Renee Good were quickly labeled “domestic terrorists" by the Trump administration, which accused them of endangering the lives of law enforcement. Video evidence soon appeared to contradict government claims, but it’s still a label that filmmaker Laura Poitras says she finds chilling.
Poitras has been producing and directing documentaries for more than 20 years, winning both an Oscar and a Pulitzer Prize for her 2014 work “Citizenfour,” which focussed on the whistleblower Edward Snowden and mass surveillance. She too has her own experience of being regarded as a threat by the US government and says she was on a terrorist watch list for years.
Her latest film, which this week was nominated for a BAFTA, profiles renowned US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. “Cover-Up,” on Netflix, traces Hersh’s life from his early days in Chicago through his scoops of the 1960s to his current journalism on Substack.
It’s a story of media both past and present. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Poitras also reflects on the role of citizen journalism in documenting government violence in places like Minneapolis.
Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/week...
Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net
Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal
Subscribe to Bloomberg Podcasts: https://bit.ly/BloombergPodcasts
Visit us: https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts
For coverage on news, markets and more: http://www.bloomberg.com/video
00:46 Introducing Laura Poitras
02:29 “Legendary investigative journalist” Seymour Hersh
05:05 Poitras and Hersh’s Iraq connection
06:26 US public “failed by our legacy media”
08:30 Cycles of impunity
09:25 Criticism of Hersh’s journalism
11:59 Hersh quits the film
16:00 Poitras’ lens on America
17:15 Parallels between Iraq and Venezuela
20:04 Poitras under surveillance
24:49 Edward Snowden and NSA secrets
28:22 “I’m very happy he’s not in a US prison”
30:45 Normalising surveillance
33:00 Why “Cover-Up” is still relevant today
39:00 Mishal Husain speaks to Laura Poitras for a second time
40:16 “Journalists have an obligation”
42:45 A tipping point for ICE?
The killing of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis has made January a dark month for many across America. Both Alex Pretti and Renee Good were quickly labeled “domestic terrorists" by the Trump administration, which accused them of endangering the lives of law enforcement. Video evidence soon appeared to contradict government claims, but it’s still a label that filmmaker Laura Poitras says she finds chilling.
Poitras has been producing and directing documentaries for more than 20 years, winning both an Oscar and a Pulitzer Prize for her 2014 work “Citizenfour,” which focussed on the whistleblower Edward Snowden and mass surveillance. She too has her own experience of being regarded as a threat by the US government and says she was on a terrorist watch list for years.
Her latest film, which this week was nominated for a BAFTA, profiles renowned US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. “Cover-Up,” on Netflix, traces Hersh’s life from his early days in Chicago through his scoops of the 1960s to his current journalism on Substack.
It’s a story of media both past and present. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Poitras also reflects on the role of citizen journalism in documenting government violence in places like Minneapolis.
Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/week...
Contact The Mishal Husain Show mishalshow@bloomberg.net
Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal
Subscribe to Bloomberg Podcasts: https://bit.ly/BloombergPodcasts
Visit us: https://www.bloomberg.com/podcasts
For coverage on news, markets and more: http://www.bloomberg.com/video
00:46 Introducing Laura Poitras
02:29 “Legendary investigative journalist” Seymour Hersh
05:05 Poitras and Hersh’s Iraq connection
06:26 US public “failed by our legacy media”
08:30 Cycles of impunity
09:25 Criticism of Hersh’s journalism
11:59 Hersh quits the film
16:00 Poitras’ lens on America
17:15 Parallels between Iraq and Venezuela
20:04 Poitras under surveillance
24:49 Edward Snowden and NSA secrets
28:22 “I’m very happy he’s not in a US prison”
30:45 Normalising surveillance
33:00 Why “Cover-Up” is still relevant today
39:00 Mishal Husain speaks to Laura Poitras for a second time
40:16 “Journalists have an obligation”
42:45 A tipping point for ICE?