In examining the CIA's past and present use of the U.S. media, the Committee finds two reasons for concern. The first is the potential, inherent in covert media operations, for manipulating or incidentally misleading the American public.

Frank Church was considered a progressive (remarkable considering that he represented one of the most conservative states in the nation); He in 1979 was the first in Congress to disclose and protest the presence of Soviet combat troops in Cuba. After one of his testicles and glands in his lower abdomen were removed Church was given only a few months to live. His defeat was blamed on the activities of the Anybody But Church Committee and the national media's early announcement of Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan's overwhelming win in Idaho.

Church was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 1976 presidential election losing to Jimmy Carter. A member of the Democratic Party he served as a United States Senator from Idaho from 1957 to 1981.