by Media Manipulation Research Lead Joan Donovan and Research Analyst Brian Friedberg

Unite the Right 2.0 organizer Jason Kessler’s August 12 anniversary rally was an abject failure due to internal conflict in the white nationalist movement, and the unrelenting pressure of anti-racist organizing and coalitions of civil society groups determined to keep this hate from growing. Kessler’s failed attempt to rekindle the large-scale hate rally of last summer drew a measly 25 white supremacists, wasted millions in DC city resources, and inspired an overwhelming counter-response by dedicated anti-racist activists that ensured such rallies will not be easy for the Alt-Right and their allies in the future.

Journalists and researchers who cover far right organizing have repeatedly warned mainstream press about the dangers of covering white supremacist organizers, even for critical or adversarial interviews. On August 10–the Friday before the weekend rally–NPR disregarded these many warnings by booking Kessler, an extremist political organizer alienated even from communities of white supremacists he claims to represent. As researchers of the far right, this left us deeply concerned and frustrated. Morning Edition host Noel King’s attempts to push back on Kessler’s widely untrue statements in fact served as a large platform to deliver foundational talking points of the contemporary far right.

Journalists and researchers who cover far right organizing have repeatedly warned mainstream press about the dangers of covering white supremacist organizers, even for critical or adversarial interviews.

White supremacists devise private and public talking points, refining abhorrent behind-the-scenes conversations into ‘polite’ conversation about the need for ‘white civil rights’ when given amplification by mainstream press. This interview was a clear example of these tactics at play.

King begins the interview with a disclaimer — “And full disclosure — some of what you’re about to hear is racist and offensive.” Despite this preface, the damage was already done. Kessler delivered talking points such as the ranking of races by factors like IQ to NPR’s estimated audience of 99 million listeners, a presentation devoid of the expected violent racist rhetoric usually associated with vitriolic neo-nazis. Instead, he offered an unsubstantiated claim that by condemning white supremacist organizing, the civil rights of all white people were being undermined.

Kessler and other white nationals often equate white supremacist access to press and online platforms to those of civil rights organizers. He told NPR, “But there is such a stigma around it where white people can do the exact same thing that another group of people do, and it’s called supremacy, but if the other group does it, it’s called civil rights.” This false dichotomy employed by Kessler is an attempt to erase history — by making the claim white nationalists are entitled to civil and legal protections, he (and other white supremacists) erase documented violence and discrimination faced by people of color in the United States, who continue to fight for equality across a number of domains from wages, to housing, to education and more.

Kessler’s position is further revealed by his blind adherence to unspecified and debunked research.

KESSLER: Bring up some scientific studies that conflict with what I’m saying. If you don’t have them…

KING: Basically, any scientist that is not Charles Murray…

KESSLER: …Then we should just move on because I’m not telling you what I want to believe is true.

In an era marked by the rampant spread of targeted disinformation enabled by flaws in our sociotechnical systems, distrust in media and academia has seen a resurgence of attention. For white nationalists, giving air time to scientific racism and its foundational texts are essential strategies. Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve remains the primary source white nationalists cite as justification for disparity and reinforced segregation, and the ‘scientific’ evidence cited by Kessler and his ilk. Given the opportunity, Kessler’s discussion of The Bell Curve was an explicit advertisement, designed to entice listeners to revisit or discover the racist propaganda for the first time.

A ‘debate’ tactic shared by both conspiracy theorists and white supremacists is forcing the burden of proof (or debunking) on their opponent. While King clearly pushes back generally on Kessler’s citation of Murray, and the legitimacy of his study as a whole, specifics of how The Bell Curve is a deeply flawed piece of both research and propaganda are not addressed specifically in the 6+ minute interview. Discussion of The Bell Curve without specific criticisms of the flaws in the research only help to reinforce the text’s status as forbidden science, despite decades of scholarship and reporting exposing the text for what it is — racist propaganda. The perception of such a text as a ‘truth’ being suppressed by liberal academics has served as a powerful recruiting tool among the networked nationalists of the global far right. Kessler’s dismissal of King’s concerns is an explicit example of this tactic in action.

No longer the sole gatekeepers of media access, mainstream outlets like NPR must continually update their position on how they cover white supremacy in the United States.

NPR’s decision to stand by the interview after an uproar of criticism is ill-advised, as was citing the racial identities of the hosts and editors responsible for the segment. Jason Kessler’s views do not exist in isolation — his ideology is informed by decades of racist texts and actions, all the while he is mentored by former KKK member David Duke. Despite the failure of his recent rally, a new generation of white supremacists are building coalitions on social media, using even ‘negative’ mainstream press as recruitment tools. The disinformation campaigns employed by white supremacists are built on misogyny, scientific racism, and anti-semitic conspiracies, with massive online libraries of texts and propaganda maintained by networks of bad actors, patiently awaiting those curious enough to investigate on their own. No longer the sole gatekeepers of media access, mainstream outlets like NPR must continually update their position on how they cover white supremacy in the United States.

When broadcasters like NPR give (even critical) exposure to organizers like Jason Kessler, and employ the ethnicities of their staff as a defense against criticism, they are playing directly to the white nationalist agenda of ethnic hierarchy and division. Racism is a cultural and institutional disease to be quarantined, not a moral position to be debated.

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