I found some interesting old stories that came to light as I was looking at info about "Operation Mockingbird".

One is a 2016 piece by Claire Bernish on thefreethoughtproject.com called "US GOVT JUST LEGALIZED OPERATION MOCKINGBIRD–FBI CAN NOW IMPERSONATE THE MEDIA" pic related

That piece contained a link to a letter James Comey wrote to the NYT in 2014. In the letter he wrote "we do use deception at times to catch crooks, but we are acting responsibly and legally.". In any case, James Comey's actions at FBI were apparently already raising concerns well prior to 2016.