How can Fresno media cover the Proud Boys? By not giving them a platform for deception

Last month, former Fresno Police Officer Rick Fitzgerald was revealed as former leader in the Fresno Proud Boys as a “third degree” member responsible for, among other things, recruitment and the screening of new members.

Video surfaced of Fitzgerald participating in a Proud Boy brawl in Sacramento, and, on his now-deleted YouTube posts and the livestream of now ex-Proud Boy Eddie Block, encouraging the public to join groups such as the three-percenter militia, and train with firearms for the time that it was necessary to “fight” as “warriors.” Fitzgerald was subsequently fired by the Fresno PD, making national news.

Many local media correspondents have since provided Fitzgerald extensive interviews in which he relied on common Proud Boy public-relations language to gloss over the violent and extreme nature of the group and sell it as a fraternal, family oriented patriot organization.

On Tuesday, Darius Assemi, self-proclaimed “community leader” and “philanthropist” and president of Granville Homes, hosted Mark Mazzola, leader of the Fresno Proud Boys, on his livestream show. Granville Homes’ “media” company, GV Wire, in addition to interviewing Fitzgerald, previously gave Mazzola an entire interview to defend the Proud Boys and declare the Fresno chapter isn’t violent or racist. Mazzola has been caught on video with a pack of Proud Boys searching a parking lot for “black guys” to beat up to gain their 4th “degree” status, which requires engaging in violence in the name of the group.

Fresno County Board of Supervisors member Steve Brandau joined as a co-host. Prior to the show, City Councilmember Mike Karbassi, usually a co-host, made the commendable decision to drop out for the night, going so far as to condemn the Proud Boys and state he would “not be party to the Proud Boys spreading their message in any way.”

Yet Assemi forged on regardless, providing an entire hour to Mazzola to use all the typical tactics that the Proud Boys and other fascist groups use to obfuscate their nature by using words like “fraternity,” “traditional values,” “family values,” (often used as racist dog whistles) and stating that the Proud Boys could not be racist because they have non-white members.

Active duping

Journalists are being duped as part of a well-oiled public relations campaign to create a platform for hate groups such as the Proud Boys to get air time, recruit new members, and slowly move extremism closer to the mainstream. Samantha Kutner, writing for the International Center for Counter-Terrorism, explains that “[the] Proud Boys are mindful of optics and framing and resort to varying tactics to obscure their ideology and encourage potential recruits to join.”

This media-conscious approach is common among extremist groups, particularly neo-fascist and white nationalists, who have repackaged “racist traditions in language and forms that could more easily enter mainstream political discourse.” A well-known recent example comes from influential neo-nazi Richard Spencer, a well-educated, well-dressed fascist who coined the term “alt-right” to describe ethno-nationalist, fascist political ideologies as part of his —fairly successful — project to shift the “Overton Window” — the range of political policies deemed acceptable for discussion in society — and bring legitimacy to these ideologies by framing them as matters of free speech worthy of debate.

One only has to scratch the surface of this carefully constructed public relations narrative to see the Proud Boys’ true colors. The language of the Proud Boys self-description as a “Western Chauvinist organization” is itself a racist dog whistle. “Western civilization” and “the West” is common coded language in white supremacist culture for “white civilization,” as has been long known and widely reported by experts.

If media representatives cared to do so, it is also not hard to discover that non-white members are not uncommon in white supremacist organizations. As Daniel Martinez HoSang, associate professor at Yale University explains, non-white Proud Boy members encourage racist stereotypes and play a role that “excuses white racism and bears witness to the failure of people of color,” which “makes white supremacy a more durable force.” But the Proud Boys use more than just dog whistles, as Kutner explains, “the group’s creed is laden with cryptofascist symbols and White supremacist imagery.”

Criminal acts

Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes is a self-professed “xenophobe” who espouses hatred for Muslims, transgender individuals and women. The Canadian government classifies the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization because “their violent actions and rhetoric are fueled by white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and misogyny, and unfortunately, often in combination of all of the above.” The U.S. government briefly classified the Proud Boys as an “extremist” organization after one of their members organized the “Unite the Right” neo-fascist, white nationalist convergence in Charlottesville, Virginia (where attendees gave “Hitler salutes” and chanted “”blood and soil” and ”Jews will not replace us”) that resulted in the murder of Heather Heyer.

Proud Boys members have been involved many documented incidences of violence, so many so that one can even track them on a map. McInnes has bragged about the level of violence promoted by the organization, stating “justified violence feels great. And fighting solves everything.” To become a fourth-degree Proud Boy requires engaging in violence on behalf of the group.

In the Pacific Northwest, Proud Boys were involved in numerous violent incidents. This includes attacks against counter-protesters in Salem, Oregon, and spraying chemicals at protesters in Vancouver. Let’s not forget the 2020 attack on counter-protesters in Sacramento in which then-Officer Fitzgerald can be seen. Proud Boys were also involved in rallies in Berkeley that turned violent, which included Kyle Chapman, later recruited by Gavin McInnes to form The Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights, the militant and even more violent wing of the Proud Boys.

Proud Boys were sentenced to prison for assaulting anti-fascists in New York. They have also disrupted an indigenous group-led protest in Novia Scotia. A Proud Boy member famously beat a young man with pipes in a parking garage in Charlottesville and was convicted for it. As most people know, Proud Boys, including our local ones, helped storm the Capitol. I could go on and on.

Media must be careful

So, what does this have to do with Fresno media? Passing the mic to members of hate groups, neo-fascists, or white nationalists allows them to gloss over this history. When Granville Homes’ GV Wire gave a full interview to Mazolla, he was given the opportunity to sell Proud Boy PR lines such as that the Proud Boys held “no hate in their hearts,” are a “men’s fraternity,” and support “Western values.” Giving air and print time to Mazolla, Fitzgerald, and others in the name of “neutral journalism” legitimizes the Proud Boys, ignores their history, and enables them.

It is well documented that alleged “neutrality” assisted the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany. There is no such thing as “neutrality” in the face of hate; how the media covers fascism has an impact on its success. In the 1960s and 1970s many journalists, recognizing this, decided not to provide coverage to the Ku Klux Klan.

Any journalist looking to cover extremist groups without enabling them would not have to look far for guidance in this venture. Multiple sources exist on this subject.

This includes the Study Hall Anti-Fascist Media Guide, or the Journalistresource.org guide on the subject, which recognizes that “journalists play a role in helping white supremacists and right-wing extremists spread their message.” It recommends not letting the groups define themselves in their own words because once the group has shifted the terminology and language, “journalists [are] not questioning their belief system, nor [are] they tying it to any other historical antecedent.”

Other recommendations include not linking to white supremacist websites, only paraphrasing member’s statements instead of quoting them, and not giving the groups the notoriety they desire. Acclaimed photojournalist Nina Berman explains that even when they do get coverage, journalists must provide the context of these groups, saying “[i]t needs to be put in written context that these people believe in the annihilation and separation of nonwhite, non-Christian people.”

Locally, only The Fresno Bee has begun to take a more conscious approach to this work. Bee reporters have stopped linking to the livestreams and pages of fascists and their enablers, have called white supremacists what they are, and have not interviewed Proud Boys. Other media professionals should wise up, do their homework, and stop pretending that platforming extremism is “neutrality.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 11:00 AM with the headline "How can Fresno media cover the Proud Boys? By not giving them a platform for deception."