Captive Virginia Press Peddles Racism, Propaganda

By Lewis Loflin

“The media serve and propagandize on behalf of the powerful societal interests that control and finance them. The representatives of these interests have important agendas and principles that they want to advance, and they are well positioned to shape and constrain media policy.” —Noam Chomsky

I grew up in Norton, Virginia, in Wise County, where the local press, like the Bristol Herald Courier, has long failed to serve the working class. I don’t see the press as outright liars, but they live in a different world—one where their job isn’t to inform the public with raw facts but to filter them through a progressive lens, ostensibly to protect us from “unwanted” facts or “wrong” interpretations. This curated approach, driven by government and private pressures, including advertisers, enables secrecy in Southwest Virginia’s economic development, leaving the region with a captive press that prioritizes elite interests over truth.

Bias and Censorship Through a Progressive Lens

The Bristol Herald Courier’s front page proclaims “Truth. Accuracy. Fairness.” and its opinion section claims, “Opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of this newspaper.” I find these words hollow. The paper’s bias and censorship reflect a worldview that sees the public as needing protection from raw facts. In 2016, an opinion piece accused certain political supporters of racism and Nazism, citing threats to Jewish centers—claims later debunked when a black ex-journalist and an Israeli-American Jew were found responsible. The paper never retracted the story or apologized for inciting division. That same year, a front-page story about a rally assault framed the incident as a racial issue, despite race being irrelevant, while a report on a shooting at a cookout—where five people, including a pregnant woman, were killed—omitted the race of the black victims and perpetrator, pivoting to a gun control narrative. This selective reporting, filtered through a progressive lens, shapes public perception rather than presenting unfiltered facts, and by printing it, the Bristol Herald Courier owns it.

Government and Private Pressures on the Press

When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, the “Twitter Files” revealed how government and private pressures shape media narratives. Government officials, including the FBI, coordinated with Twitter to suppress stories like the Hunter Biden laptop controversy, showing a pattern of influence that likely extends to traditional outlets like the Bristol Herald Courier. Advertisers also wield power—after Musk’s acquisition, many fled Twitter, causing a revenue drop, but returned by 2025 as his influence in the Trump administration grew, aligning with power to curry favor. The Bristol Herald Courier, owned by Lee Enterprises, faces similar pressures. Local advertisers, such as developers benefiting from projects like the Western Front Hotel, likely discourage critical reporting to protect their interests, while government pressure ensures the paper avoids scrutiny of opaque initiatives, perpetuating a cycle of filtered facts that serves the elite, not the public.

Enabling Government Secrecy in Southwest Virginia

The Bristol Herald Courier’s curated approach, driven by these pressures, enables government secrecy in Southwest Virginia’s economic development. Projects like the Western Front Hotel in St. Paul ($7.8 million in taxpayer funds) and ARC grants in 2015-16 suffer from a lack of transparency, as I’ve written before. In 2024, the paper reported on $11 million in federal funding for coal site redevelopment but merely reprinted government press releases, failing to question the lack of project details or accountability. A 2023 opinion piece criticized opposition to a solar farm in Washington County, labeling opponents “anti-progress” without addressing their concerns, and the paper didn’t publish dissenting letters to the editor. The cessation of operations at its Bristol, Tennessee office at 320 Bob Morrison Blvd around 2020 has only worsened this trend, reducing its capacity for on-the-ground reporting and making it even less likely to challenge government narratives.

A Captive Press in Virginia

Virginia’s press is controlled by corporate interests. Lee Enterprises owns the Bristol Herald Courier and other Virginia papers, while Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, ensuring a uniform narrative that serves the elite, not the working class. The Bristol Herald Courier may still own its former office at 320 Bob Morrison Blvd in Bristol, Tennessee, but with no one working there since around 2020, and the paper’s shift to a three-day print schedule in 2023, it has effectively retreated from local journalism, leaving Southwest Virginia with even less access to independent reporting. In a region where Wise County’s poverty rate is 19.5% (2023 Census) and the Tri-Cities lost 54,795 jobs from 2009 to 2018, the press should provide raw facts, not filtered narratives shaped by government and advertiser pressures. Yet the Bristol Herald Courier hides behind disclaimers, refusing to clarify what it stands for or apologize for past inflammatory claims. It’s time to strip the press of its legal protections until it figures out who it truly represents—the public, not corporate and government interests.