NCPR follows up far right series with podcast on how it did it

Glens Falls may be cheated out of state tourney for a second time

Reporters Emily Russell and Zach Hirsch recently completed a deep dive into far right extremism in the North Country for North Country Public Radio. I previously recommended the series to readers.

This month, North Country Public Radio did something that may be almost as important as the reporting. It explained how it did a story some may consider controversial.

The media are scrutinized more than ever these days. With politicians like Rep. Elise Stefanik dishing out accusations of media bias as part of their daily social media diet, it is important for reporters to explain to readers why their reporting is fair.

It’s a new world.

That takes time away from reporting, but it has become necessary.

Earlier this month, NCPR News Director David Sommerstein sat down with Russell and Hirsch and interviewed them about how they did their reporting and the obstacles to it. The 12-minute interview is worth your time, not just for what it reveals about the North Country and our local communities, but also for what it shows about the efforts of the local reporters to be fair.

There is a transcript of the interview as well.

The two veteran reporters have spent years covering politics in upstate New York. They’ve followed how voters and their representatives have become increasingly more conservative. What they hadn’t done was look deeper into the extremes of the political spectrum.

“We’re not just talking about people with very conservative views, we’re talking about people and groups who are anti-government or extremist,” Hirsch explained during the interview. “So this reporting was really focused on ideologies that threaten violence or push the country towards authoritarianism.”

The pair found that while those ideas seem to be becoming more mainstream, those calling for violence are still “a slim minority.”

They describe the challenges of finding subjects, especially among the fringe groups, who did not want to talk to them. What they did find at the center of the conservatives was gun rights.

Hirsch said this has been on the rise since the passage of the SAFE Act in 2013.

For anyone that has driven around the North Country or rural western New York, it is still not unusual to see signs condemning the SAFE Act.

“What we saw was in some cases was that legitimate disagreements over gun control kind of morphed into something else,” Hirsch said. “It was a catalyst for anti-government groups and threats of violence. Conspiracy theories. And that’s the kind of activity that worries the FBI and counter-terrorism officials.”

“One thing we struggled with during our reporting was not having any real way to know how widespread a certain belief is,” Russell said. “What we can say is that here in upstate New York, it appears that far-right groups and militias and ideologies are more focused on gun rights and anti-government ideology than overt white supremacy.”

Sommerstein asked the reporters to explain why the series focused so much on the right.

“One bit of pushback we heard over and again when reporting on far-right extremism is - well, what about far-least extremism? What about Black Lives Matter?” Hirsch said. “People, including law enforcement here, incorrectly claim that that movement has been more violent than the far right. But that is simply not true. That’s a movement to protest the police killings of innocent black people, and it’s been overwhelmingly peaceful.”

Jackie Bray at New York’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services confirmed that with the reporters.

The pair covered a lot of ground in their series, dispensed with many long-held beliefs and revealed how our region has changed in recent years.

“We say this throughout the series, but it’s worth mentioning again,” Russell said. “Physical violence from far-right extremism appears to be pretty rare in Upstate New York, but as we’ve seen in the past, with the racist mass shooting in Buffalo (2022), just one person who’s been radicalized can do tremendous damage.”

“I think one important thing to emphasize is that there are dots that connect a lot of what may seem like separate factions of the far right,” Hirsch explained. “So, our series mentions the KKK, anti-government militias, constitutional sheriffs, anti-immigrant groups. There is a threat that runs through all of theses. It’s about authoritarian control - and also, who this country is really for. Who `we the people’ are. And often, that vision of the country is deep Christian, deeply white.”

It’s an ambitious series about what is happening in our local communities. And it’s a refreshing piece of transparency about how reporters do their job.

Stefanik deletes statement

After Rep. Elise Stefanik referred to those convicted on Jan. 6 as “hostages” on national television, it was learned that Stefanik’s statement admonishing that violence on Jan. 6 had been taken down from her website.

“Americans have a constitutional right to protest and freedom of speech, but violence in any form is absolutely unacceptable and anti-American,” Stefanik’s 2021 statement said. “The perpetrators of this un-American violence and destruction must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

The Times Union reported Tuesday that after it was noticed that the Jan. 6 statement was gone and that Stefanik’s public relations people said all statements from before the start of 2023 have been removed from her congressional website.

Open Meetings law

A couple of readers reached out to me about the Open Meetings Law and the controversy over a possible illegal meeting in Moreau.

Apparently, there is a provision within the law that a board can meet with its legal representatives without going into executive session or notifying the public.

I had never heard of this provision and wondered if the boards was obligated to let the public know of this non-public meeting.

In the name of transparency, I think they should.

I also said, that board have used personnel issues to go into executive session in the past, but that is not one of the exceptions allowed.

State tourney

The executive committee of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association will be meeting today to decide the site of the state basketball tournament from 2025 through 2027.

The state basketball committee voted 8-3 back in October to return the tourney to Glens Falls for the next three years.

But for the second time, the head of the athletic association, Robert Zayas, has recommended the tournament go to Binghamton because it is a better deal financially.

Chip Corlew, who heads the local state tournament group, told The Post-Star that Zayas has his facts wrong.

  But Zayas appears to be sticking to his fun’s despite the clarification from the Glens Falls group. He said he is obligated to go by what the bid says on paper.

Protecting the press

There was a shocking vote in the House of Representatives recently. What was so shocking was that it was unanimous. What might be even more shocking was that it was a bill to protect members of the press.

Considering how Rep. Elise Stefanik consistently complains of the media’s rampant bias and her refusal do do interviews or respond to media requests throughout the district, it is surprising she voted for the bill.

The legislation was designed to protect reporters’ rights not to disclose the identity of a confidential source. It also bars the government from accessing journalists’ digital records stored on third-party platforms.

While this is common sense measure to protect reporters and editors, it has never gotten this far in Congress. Many states have shield laws, but there is none at the federal level.

Considering Donald Trump’s recent promises to enact retribution if he were elected president, this could be essential legislation for members of the press.
“Journalists shouldn’t be forced to choose between burning their sources or going to jail,” said Free Press Foundation Director Seth Stern in a statement reported on the Free Press website. “With the House’s bipartisan vote approving the PRESS Act, Congress comes one step closer to providing powerful protection against surveillance of journalists. Now it’s up to the Senate to finish the job by passing this historic legislation and sending it to the president’s desk to sign.”

Book banning

The Free Speech Center’s newsletter this month had some shocking news briefs.

It reported:

- The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a Texas law that would require sexual-content ratings from booksellers who deal with school libraries.

- NPR reported there is a Texas school that has a secret shelf of banned books despite a state policy prohibiting the books entirely.

- An Oklahoma lawmaker has authored a bill that would require journalists to be licensed by the state and take quarterly drug tests.

I wonder if the lawmaker would approve of licensing lawmakers and forcing them to take drugs tests, too?

Chapman open house

The Chapman Museum in Glens Falls will be holding an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday to christen its new exhibit “Winning Teams.”

As a former sports editor who covered sports for more than 20 years, including 11 years here in Glens Falls, I’m especially looking forward to this exhibit.

This is the first exhibit for the Chapman’s new curator Maureen Folk.

Admission is free and when I’m done taking a look at the exhibit I will be signing books from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Hope to see you there.