Lawsuits another threat to American newspapers
North Country Light Brigade in action again: `Shame on SCOTUS'
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The irony should not be lost on any of us disgusted with corruption in government.
Just over a year ago, Mississippi Today - a small nonprofit digital newspaper covering state government - discovered that $77 million in federal welfare funds did not go to the poor as intended, but to well-connected people and their favorite causes and yet the first person jailed might be the reporter who uncovered the malfeasance.
The story made national news in the spring when the Mississippi Today's reporting won the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. It was a classic Hoosiers story of a small news organization with limited resources catching the bad guys.
It is making national news again because reporter Anna Wolfe and Editor Adam Ganucheau may end up in jail for not revealing their confidential sources.
Last month, former Gov. Phil Bryant sued the newspaper for defamation, not over the reporting, but because the CEO of Mississippi Today, Mary Margaret White, mischaracterized the reporting at a journalism conference in Miami. She said that $77 million had been "embezzled by a former governor and his bureaucratic cronies."
But Bryant was not charged and he filed defamation lawsuit. White immediately apologized for her remark, saying she had misspoke.
That should have been the end of it, but it was actually just the beginning.
After Mississippi Today refused Bryant's demand for all internal documents and sources related to the reporting, Bryant filed a motion asking a judge to find Mississippi Today in contempt for not turning over notes and confidential sources.
Wolfe and her editor say they won't betray their sources. They have appealed the order to the state Supreme Court where the former governor has appointed four of the nine judges.
“If one of us goes to jail, we will be the first person to go to jail in the Mississippi welfare scandal,” Wolfe told NBC News. “How can I make promises to sources that I’m going to keep them confidential if this is possible?”
This is another attack on the freedoms we all have.
If the First Amendment is not held sacrosanct, then journalists will no longer be privy to important tips about government corruption.
But perhaps that is the greater goal of the former governor.
Mississippi Today is not the New York Times.
It was founded in 2016 as a statehouse watchdog to do the type of reporting that uncovered the recent scandal. Mississippi Today says on its website it is the only fully staffed, member-supported, digital-first, nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom serving Mississippi and meeting the information needs of communities across the state.
Fighting lawsuits are expensive and not something most of today's struggling newspapers can afford.
The welfare investigation revealed that while Bryant was in office, millions of federal welfare dollars were misappropriated. Bryant told NBC he played no role in directing the money. Bryant has not been charged, but the state's welfare director did plead guilty to federal fraud and theft charges but has not been sentenced.
Adam Ganucheau, the editor of Mississippi Today, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times about the toll the lawsuit is taking on the newspaper.
"As boisterous leaders like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida work consciously to erode First Amendment protections, the use of a defamation lawsuit against small but energetic newsrooms like ours could become a political playbook for an attack on the American free press," Ganucheau wrote. "In the 1964 case The New York Times Company v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court made it harder for public officials to win defamation cases, forcing them to prove that actual malice occurred, but the time and costs of a year's-long lawsuit over actual malice would threaten our newsroom’s financial livelihood. Even if we were to prevail in our defense of this suit, we will probably have lost in many other ways."
It the same playbook that big corporations often use on small towns and municipalities to get their way. They bury defendants with few resources in paperwork and bleed them dry.
"If we’re forced to spend our limited resources on legal fees to defend a meritless lawsuit, that’s less money we can devote to the costly investigative journalism that often is the only way taxpayers and voters learn about how their leaders truly behave when they believe no one is watching," Ganucheau wrote.
Ganucheau pointed out that Mississippi is one of eight states without a shield law for reporters.
"For nearly a year now, Mr. Bryant has used the suit to strain our nonprofit newsroom’s finances and small staff’s energy, repeatedly adding amendments to his original complaint. Since filing his lawsuit last year, he added me and our investigative reporter Anna Wolfe as defendants, along with adding several of Ms. Wolfe’s more recent articles about new developments in the state’s continuing efforts to recoup misspent funds.
"We believe this legal tactic is intended to chill our reporting of the current state and federal investigations into the welfare misspending — and the numerous charged defendants in the welfare case who have argued in court filings that Mr. Bryant approved or directed them to make some of the welfare expenditures now questioned by state or federal prosecutors.
"We stand by every word of our reporting, we have not let this lawsuit intimidate us, and we feel strongly we will prevail in the end. But a sobering new case development has led international media rights organizations to support our defense and inspired the intense internal conversations about some deeply disturbing possibilities.
This lawsuit affects all of us.
It is a playbook for future government officials to end vibrant journalism by eliminating the organizations we depend on.
That should be frightening to all of us.
"If we were to be held in contempt of court, individual defendants could face jail time, our nonprofit news organization could face hefty fines, or the judge could issue a default judgment against us in favor of the plaintiff, who has asked the court for more than $1 million in damages," Ganucheau wrote. "Any of those scenarios could threaten our staff members’ freedom and our newsroom’s long-term sustainability. Yes, things have become tenuous for us in Mississippi, but our case is perhaps one legal decision from being a problem the entire country must grapple with."
This case affects all of us.
As a non-profit news organization, Mississippi Today accepts donations. I urge you to help in any way you can.
Light Brigade
You should be familiar with the North Country Light Brigade by now. They are a group of liberal activists displaying messages about issues and events that affect all of us.
They have shown support for Ukraine in downtown Glens Falls, hung their lights from the bike trail overpass on Quaker Road and this past Friday night they unveiled a new message on the Northway overpass on Aviation Road.
The message: "Shame on SCOTUS" (Supreme Court of The United States).
Not long after setting up, a State Police car pulled up wondering what was going on and then left.
A few minutes later , another car pulled up and a woman asked what the message was. When she was told, the male driver leaned over and yelled out the window "F.... Joe Biden."
Welcome to Hometown, USA
Several in group were part of protests of Elise Stefanik back in 2019 when another pro-Stefanik took offense leading to some ugly downtown demonstrations.
One member of the group shared with me a story of another time on an overpass when a man did not like their message. He proceeded to drive down to where their cars were parked and spit on their windshields.
I don’t care what you believe, but that is inappropriate. We all need to respect each other, but we are seeing less and less of that.
Crown Point arrest
The Watertown Daily Times recently reported that a Crown Point man - not far from Ticonderoga in Essex County - was arrested by the Secret Service for threatening to kill President Joe Biden.
If you are not aware, the Secret Service takes all threats seriously.
Troy Kelly of Crown Point was arrested after making a threat against President Biden on X, formerly Twitter.
According to the Secret Service, Kelly admitted to posting the threat, then reaffirmed that he wanted to hurt the president. He was charged with one count of making threats against the president and faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Summer Bash
The Chapman Museum's Summer Bash may be the event of the summer.
The fundraiser is scheduled for the Fort William Henry Resort Carriage House where you can watch the Thursday night fireworks on the lawn after drinks, dinner and entertainment. There is also going to be a silent auction and free parking.
Make sure to sign up for the Thursday, Aug. 1 event now.
Hometown Trolley Project
The Chapman Museum is hoping to establish itself as a holiday destination for every family in the North Country this year.
The Chapman is partnering with the Upstate Models Railroad club to produce 1900-era diorama of downtown Glens Falls complete with a working trolley system and historically accurate buildings from the West side of Glen Street.
We've already raised $250 toward our goal of $1450 for the materials needed to produce the diorama. The train club is donating its labor toward the project.
You can donate by going to the Chapman Museum's website. Make sure to note what the donation is for.
Electric buses
North Country Public Radio's Amy Feiereisel continues to do an outstanding job reporting on the electric bus state mandate that has become so controversial in the North Country.
Her latest report follows up on recent school elections where the electric bus issue was on the ballot.
The reality is that for the school districts that have embraced the mandates, pursued grants and done their homework, the electric bus initiative has been a positive.
Check out Feiereisel's latest reporting.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
The threats of violence, real or implied, derived directly from the generalized mass of MAGA followers, are designed to intimidate and ultimately to suppress the candidate and the voters. RIP Voting Rights Act of 1965, which met its demise in the 2013 SCOTUS ruling of Shelby County v. Holder. We have people in NY-21 who identify as "closet Democrats" because they are genuinely concerned for their personal safety. They are willing to do behind-the-scenes work on my campaign, but they do not feel comfortable putting themselves or their families at risk by public displays of support for a non-MAGA candidate. I thought they were exaggerating or simply paranoid until I experienced anonymous death threats myself.
The Roy Cohn playbook, MAGA-fied.