SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The Southern Poverty Law Center, often referred to by the acronym SPLC, has apparently placed an independent media outlet based out of Scottsdale, Arizona on their respective “Hate Map” online, ergo likening an alternative conservative news outlet to something akin to the Klu Klux Klan by extension.
The Arizona-based platform Red Voice Media is a news media outlet which runs typical, albeit periodic sensationally headlined, articles and original commentary programs aimed at conservative audiences. Topics revolving around admonishing Democrat officials’ policies, expressing skepticism around COVID protocols and denigrating World Economic Forum (WEF) personalities and acolytes are typical for the aforesaid outlet.
Yet, for reasons unclear and arguably obtuse, the SPLC opted to place Red Voice Media on their interactive online “Hate Map,” which features the likes of various hate groups, including chapters and spinoffs of the KKK and other White Nationalist outfits.
For the sake of clarity and context, the founder of The Breakdown News had even previously contributed a number of articles and interviews for Red Voice Media, where some were even critical of right-wing figures.
With no bonafide information rendered on the SPLC’s website aside from a placement on the “Hate Map” accompanied by an allegation that Red Voice Media is an “antigovernment movement,” the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization decided to place an independent news outlet among the ranks of the KKK and other egregious hate groups.
Whilst the news outlet, like many other news outlets even amidst the mainstream media field, has platformed criticisms of various elected officials, there is hardly a cohesive antigovernment stance or agenda espoused considering the platform also regularly hosts content praising various elected officials.
While free speech is a cornerstone protected by the First Amendment, and a Constitutional ideal that The Breakdown News stands by, there’s something a tad unsettling about the SPLC’s assertion regarding Red Voice Media which may traverse the confines of Constitutional free speech and encroach the realm of defamation by libel.
Generally speaking, broad statements by either individuals or even ones emblazoned on the likes of bumper stickers asserting an entity or individual is racist, sexist, and any other number of inflammatory labeling is protected by the First Amendment, according to past court precedents.
But context is key, as often the mutterings of one person, be it by literal bullhorn or expression via posted graphics, is something that could reasonably be digested as one’s personal opinion rather than something being asserted as an indisputable fact.
This is where the gray line presents itself regarding the SPLC’s usage of the “Hate Map” and claiming that an independent news outlet is an “antigovernment movement.” The SPLC’s website isn’t a mere blog handled by one person but is rather the official perspective of a nonprofit organization encompassing ostensibly thousands of individuals collectively with a backing of millions of dollars. Furthermore, there’s nothing featured on the site’s “Hate Map” to remotely infer or imply that the assertions made are nothing more than opinions.
The SPLC’s vocal influence isn’t tantamount to some random bumper sticker one sees while idling at a red light, nor is its range equivalent to one’s individual ramblings on a streetside bullhorn or even social media account. This entity making such spurious allegations represents a powerful and persuasive collective, one such that has had its perspectives used to influence federal law enforcement agencies.
Neither Red Voice Media nor the SPLC could be reached for comment regarding this bizarre designation of a media outlet. Yet, the flagrant attribution of a, albeit partisan, outlet being dubbed a “antigovernment movement” by such an influential nonprofit is troubling, to say the least.
Gregory Hoyt is a former contributor to outlets such as Law Enforcement Today and Red Voice Media, and current host of The Breakdown with Greg Hoyt. Based out of Sierra Vista, Arizona, Hoyt is a staunch and outspoken advocate of law enforcement and first responders, while also harboring the unique experience of having spent nearly 5 years in prison. Since then, he's used his unique perspective to offer support and commentary about the criminal justice system. When not working or combating bad ideas, Hoyt also leisurely studies economics, history, and law.