Editor’s note: The following post was published on Alaska Rep. Sarah Vance’s Facebook page on Oct. 2. It responds to criticism she has received for calling out the Homer News for the way it characterized the late Charlie Kirk.
Much has been said about me this week, especially originating from former editor of Homer News, Michael Armstrong, which is highly inaccurate. You deserve to know the truth.
I will always defend the First Amendment, including Mr. Armstrong’s right to express his opinion, even when it is wildly inaccurate.
My public comments regarding the vile and slanderous statements made by reporter Chloe Pleznac about Charlie Kirk were themselves an exercise of my First Amendment rights. Calling out defamatory or false commentary is not “government suppression of speech.” It is free speech responding to free speech. That is a crucial distinction that Mr. Armstrong either misunderstands or chooses to ignore.
I place tremendous value on truth and on the vital role that local media plays in keeping residents informed and connected. That commitment to integrity in reporting is the only reason I spoke up.
The Supreme Court’s decision in NRA v. Vullo is not remotely analogous to this situation. In Vullo, a state regulator leveraged the coercive power of the government to threaten banks and insurance companies with regulatory action unless they severed ties with a disfavored advocacy group. That case involved state authority being weaponized behind closed doors to punish protected expression. By contrast, I made no threats, issued no directives, and exercised no governmental power. I simply voiced my own opinion, publicly and transparently, about statements that many in our community found deeply offensive.
If Mr. Armstrong truly supports the First Amendment, then he should support it even when the opinion expressed is one he dislikes. Instead, his remarks suggest that free speech is worth defending only when it aligns with his worldview. I reject that double standard.
Free speech is not just for journalists and activists; it is also for the citizens and elected representatives who have every right to speak their minds in the public square.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
I am also not responsible for the actions of others.
I was not aware of the internal conflicts within the paper at the time I made my complaint, nor did I anticipate that it would contribute to anyone’s resignation.
When I later learned of the departures, I was genuinely surprised. My concern has always been singular and straightforward; I want the Homer News to uphold the highest standards of journalism, to provide reporting that is fair, accurate, and free from bias.
I place tremendous value on truth and on the vital role that local media plays in keeping residents informed and connected. That commitment to integrity in reporting is the only reason I spoke up.
The views expressed here are those of the author.
16 Comments
Right on!!!
So that’s why you used official letterhead in your correspondence, Sarah? Methinks not. Not all of us Alaskans are ignorant, backwards lemmings.
Stipulating free speech on both sides is right. Whether you agree with a person or not, you both have the right to have your views known. The fact that we fell into the trap of limiting “hate speech” allowed those in power to invent terms like “disinformation” and “misinformation” to further limit the power of free speech. Good for Rep, Vance in pointing out that free speech is still paramount. You do not have to agree with her view of Charlie to see she still allowed dissenting views. good! I am so concerned that we no longer talk to one another and respect one another. Charlie’s death should have been the final wake-up call needed to call us all back to more civil ways.
Amen Shelia, That’s what Charlie Kirk was doing and good at it, speaking in the public square.
God bless his family.
Check out the website https://charliequotes.com/quotes It’s a list of things he said, where and when he said them, so you can better understand this person you think is so wonderful
I appreciate her patriotism and adherence to constitutional principles, I just wish she’d care about wasteful spending and corruption in State government. She doesn’t want to hear about it. As she once said agency budgetary malfeasance, “that ship is too big to re-steer”. More of the same from our elected “representatives”.
Try actually representing your constituents please.
Spot-on!
Thanks. I don’t know this woman other than my attempts at constituent interaction with her. She seems very patriotic, but I fear it’s only for appearance sake. I’ve tried many time to capture her interest in government agency budgetary games and unconstitutional and illegal malfeasance but she has consistently rebuffed my efforts. Pretty sad but she manages to pull it off. She doesn’t care.
Thank you for organizing the memorial.
We need to vote and then rule our state. Enough of putting our head in the sand and going along to get along.
Vance: hypocrite or parody of herself? Fascism and intolerance begin at home.
We subscribed to the Homer News for a year before cancelling our subscription because we were tired of its leftist ideology thinly disguised as journalism. Have not missed the paper and am grateful Sarah Vance called them out.
Not a one of us are perfect; who can hold up to another’s expectations?
I regard Rep Vance as a person of integrity & high moral character who strives to do her best in acknowledging that the government is instituted upon God’s shoulders. This position of authority demands her to do right by those she represents before God.
Thank you for honoring Charlie Kirk, who put God first, family & his country.
The tenets of Fascism are the foundation of the modern left.
How do you feel about assassination as a political tool? A surprising number of Democrats support it.
Rep. Vance makes this assertion: “Calling out defamatory or false commentary is not “government suppression of speech.” It is free speech responding to free speech. That is a crucial distinction that Mr. Armstrong either misunderstands or chooses to ignore.”
I fully support Rep. Vance’s right to criticize reporting with which she does not agree. Any reader of a newspaper has the right to a civil discussion on media bias and accuracy in reporting. When I edited the Homer News, I had many such discussions. Often when people disagreed with our reporting, I would say, “Fine. Write me a letter to the editor or an op-ed and I’ll print it.”
What Rep. Vance seems to misunderstand or chooses to ignore is the implications of this paragraph in a letter she wrote to Carpenter Media and Sound Publishing executives:
“Because of this ongoing bias, I am fully aware of a growing movement to boycott Homer News advertising. Local businesses are openly discussing pulling their dollars, and many readers are ready to walk away altogether. If the paper continues to treat community events as opportunities for partisan spin, the consequence will be financial as well as reputational.”
While she may not have intended this as intimidation of the Homer News, when an elected official uses her letterhead and hints at an economic boycott if the paper doesn’t do as she says, a reasonable person can interpret that as attempted suppression of free speech. This is Mob boss speech: Nice newspaper you’ve got there. It would be a shame if something happened to it.
And that’s my point. I don’t give a hoot if she wants to rant about the horrible Homer News and how mean they are to conservatives. If I had been editor, I would have given her 1,000 words to shout from the roof tops.
But I do care when an elected official uses her position to intimidate a free press. If I’m mistaken, and Rep. Vance didn’t mean to threaten the Homer News, all she has to do is issue a clarification and say so. After all, that’s what she asked of the Homer News.
I guess it all depends on the interpretation. I believe that Vance wrote the letter to Carpenter Media not as a threat at all but as a concerned reader who does not wish for the publication to (predictably) fail under the weight of its own political policy on publishing. We’re back to “mis & dis” if you willfully misconstrue Vance’s warning of what befalls print media when they fail to meet readers in the middle.
The newspaper doesn’t work for some elected official. I don’t see any realistic threat to the paper.
These leftists are probably the same ones who claim that Trump fired Kimmel. Yes Kimmel is back. But no, he doesn’t work for Trump.