The way forward is journalism

A Chaser on election results and the news

“My own conclusion is that both of those things [racism and sexism] were amplified by the flood of disinformation that has plagued the U.S. for years now.” Heather Cox Richardson, reflecting on the election results (11/6/24 missive)

The morning after the American presidential election, I pulled into my local Jiffy Mart to fill up on gas before driving to Montpelier for the start of another workday subsumed by national news. A day like any other.

A dark pickup glided to a halt in a janky spot, as if that unmarked scrap of asphalt had been reserved for it right there—close enough to the pumps and rights of way that other vehicles had to maneuver around it.

It’s clearly outlined where to park—along the storefront or the hedges bordering the lot. But this guy didn’t want to be out of the way and unseen: the truck was papered up with homemade signs in favor of a Trump win. The one I saw read, “Vote for Trump to save our lives.” I could see the edges of others but turned back to the task at hand.

Parking lots can be frustrating vortexes of anarchy. But this morning was orderly like any other. Except this guy, liege to the king of chaos, making his presence known.

Stationed where both passing street traffic and other patrons would surely notice, it was a wink and a nod to polite society, a strategic bending of the rules. A swagger.

Trump’s Kingdom

I was reminded of this story that Jasper Craven wrote for VTDigger after the 2016 election. He went to the Northeast Kingdom and spoke with Trump voters. The Kingdom, as it’s known here, is the most rural region of the state. It’s white, poor, and underinvested. In 2016, it overwhelmingly favored a Trump presidency, though the state predictably went to his opponent.

Craven himself is Kingdom-bred and one can tell from the story, the people felt heard, talking to one of their own.

Judging by voting outcomes alone, it seems that not much has changed in the intervening years. The Kingdom’s border towns (both international and domestic borders) are staunchly red in Erin Petenko’s data map, published the day after the election.

As we see here, Trump-voting towns also pooled along the border entrances of Route 302 on the east and Route 7 on the south and west. It looks as if the red tide is seeping in from all corners of the state.

“Notably, Trump performed better in Vermont this year than in his previous two races. He picked up more than 95,000 votes in 2016, 113,000 in 2020 and 119,000 this time around. He also captured a greater percentage of the vote — 32% this year, compared to 30% in 2016 and 31% in 2020.” VTDigger election data analysis 11/6/24

For all the noisy, ostentatious flag-waving that took place many Friday afternoons on behalf of Trump, Barre (where I live), went to Harris. It makes me wonder if those demonstrators (and that truck driver) were residents of surrounding Trump-supporting towns.

I know Trump supporters live here in Barre, too. I pass those houses with the banners out front. We even elected a Trumpian into the general assembly: former City Council rep and current school board member Michael Boutin. I’m disappointed but not surprised this happened. Disappointed because Jonathan William’s nascent political career is promising. He’s being replaced by Boutin, who benefitted not only from the Governor’s campaign endorsement, but also from a decade in politics during which he built his base.

The America we want

I listened to Kevin Ellis’s podcast episode where he and his sons discussed the presidential election outcome. It was annoyingly missing the clatter of silverware and long gasping swigs of beer that I imagine typically accompany such rigorous dinner table talk. It was fun to imagine it anyways.

The point they all agree on is that the votes don’t lie: this is the outcome America wanted. The inevitably disappointing postcard panorama we send back home. “Wish you were here,” we signal to them whom we did not invite along. We post selfies to Instagram to signal that we’ve made it.

The analogy is my own. But the thinking is echoed from other pundits I’ve heard from over the past few weeks as well. There are a lot of contributing factors that helped Trump win back the White House. The most true thing I’ve heard repeated is that despite it all, Americans felt that he was one of them: a self-made person that no one appreciates, who can (because of his position) verbalize anything that crosses the ticker tape of his fancy, who collects and uses the oddest of people. He never ceases to amaze. He has an unfiltered audacity that most of us manage to squelch every day in order to glide through society.

Vermont’s “alternative media”

The internet has democratized access to knowledge and has allowed nobodies like myself a way to amplify our voices. But it does make vetting this freely accessible information much harder. Media literacy becomes a necessary skill for all of us, as does rigorous conversation.

I use the term “alternative media” in quotes because I am not sure there’s such a thing as “alt” reading anymore. It used to be that “alternative” was underground, marginalized, or ultra niche. It used to be that it was free, or had a particular worldview or was in a non-English language. “Alt” media was everything but prestigious.

Alt was low budget, sometimes low brow. It was low profile and on the down-low. The Onion was alt. Seven Days was alt.

I’ve published my share of “alternative media”: RUNS (Retreat Union News Service), a short-lived weekly documenting the attempts to form a union at the Brattleboro Retreat–my position was part of a mass layoff and cut short the publishing effort. I wrote for parents who’ve lost their children (which I mentioned last summer), I’ve hosted radio talk shows, written a blog and a LiveJournal, and here I am with my very own Substack newsletter, like every third person. I’m no media empire, just a person with some things to say. Every once in a while, something I write gets republished somewhere else.

No journalist is without bias. Anyone with a brain has an opinion or at least the lens of experience. A former reporter I knew humble bragged about having never voted. It was their way of staying as neutral and objective as possible, especially when it came to local affairs.

But I don’t believe there’s good cause to remain neutral when we’re all on the YOLO train hurtling through space, unless one intends to live a life free of conviction. Which is a choice.

Municipal Spending

Bill Fraser, Montpelier City Manager, posted his past piece monthly update to the populace on September 14 in Montpelier’s Bridge newspaper. For the past 25 years, Fraser has used his discretionary advertising budget on a full page advertorial in the Bridge. As a missive from City Hall, it could not be regarded as a piece of objective journalism. As a public service communique, neither was it strictly advertising. After some time, both parties decided the simple disclosure would suffice: “This page is paid for by the CIty of Montpelier.” Fraser gave updates on contentious issues, cleared up misinformation, and had the space he needed to inform the populace on what was going on at City Hall, without the political slant of elected politicians or the inquisitive pen of local journalists.

This should be noted that 25-ish years ago, we didn’t have the internet as we do now. Vermont’s small political landscape meant that city hall was still accessible, but we didn’t have Front Porch Forum, text notifications or Facebook group forums in which to get news or perspective. This initiation from City Hall was important.

“All of this was intended to keep people informed, to help them make voting decisions, and to understand circumstances.” - Bill Fraser, Montpelier City Manager in his last column in the Montpelier Bridge 9/18/24

I think that it’s still important. For an over-informed age, and where folks have many means of getting their information, a newspaper of record still holds come cache in a community. This is where we go to for updates, calendars, news briefs, and longer form informative pieces. Most of us who read the news still can delineate between fact and opinions. Even though I spend countless hours on the internet finding the information I seek, I still unfold the bi-monthly Bridge to see what the headlines are. And if Bill Fraser has something to say, I will read it. Save me from having to contact his office or spend time speculating on this or that.

But I have not and won't be able to anymore because (according to Fraser), he’s cut that line item from the municipal budget for the FY 25 which went into effect last month (I think).

$20,000 may not seem like much in a multi-million dollar city budget, but it’s meaningful to a nonprofit local news outlet like the Bridge. That’s almost equal 350 donors contributing $5 every month.

The business of local news

One thing the news industry learned from the pandemic (and the recession before that) was that advertising is easily the first thing to get cut when budgets are tight. While we have economically rebounded to a degree from the pandemic losses, financial stability is still a puzzle for most outlets, with advertising part of the funding mix.

I spent 5 years leading the business office of VTDigger. Since then, I have spent time working with LION Publishers, was on the advisory panel then on the board of VT Independent Media, which publishes the Commons. I’ve worked with the Bridge with their digital advertising and am currently writing for their arts section. At CAL, we were the fiscal sponsor for the Hardwick Gazette as they awaited their 501c3 nonprofit status (which they now have).

This work is important to me because I grew up on newspapers. I loved books because I could stretch my heart and my imagination, but newspapers are where I learned about the place where I lived.

The language of newspapers helped me to understand what society at large accepted as English language mastery—the kind of vocabulary and grammar used outside of school, in the real world.

News stories gave me access to people and institutions I didn’t even know existed. I read Miss Manners to know how to act in American society and the editorials to get a broad sense of the world.

I remember visiting my mother in St. Pete, Florida one week when everyday I’d walk to the honor box on the corner, slip in my quarters, and pull out a hefty folded wad of the day’s news. I’d spend so much of my days reading the newspaper that my mother finally, exasperatingly, asked if there really was so much to read in it everyday.

I can’t remember how I answered—I’d been engrossed in a weeklong investigative series the staff wrote about a homicide. They published a different, related article everyday and it was so fascinating! It was reality TV before such a thing existed.

Anyways, this post is wandering all over the place. The day after the election, an old colleague of mine, who is still newspapering, posted of the results: “the way forward is journalism.” It rang true as ever for me.

Go pick up some kumquats while you’re out and about. This year’s crop is mighty tasty.