OPINION:
In a February 1962 address commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America, then-President John F. Kennedy declared: “We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
Sixty years later, James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas reveals in “American Muckraker: Rethinking Journalism for the 21st Century” that a lot of people in power are afraid to entrust American citizens with sound judgment on everything from national politics to personal health.
“American Muckraker” begins with a preface appropriately titled “Suffering” that focuses on Mr. O’Keefe’s personal challenges to his life’s work. Plenty of engaging chapters to appreciate follow, such as the means of dissemination of information in chapter one, “Medium,” undercover work uncovered in chapter three, “Deception,” on challenging those in “Power” in chapter eight and an inside look at current litigation Project Veritas is entrenched in with The New York Times in chapter 10. “The muckraker has learned one lesson time and again: when the truth is on your side, you don’t back down.”
Of paramount importance, on a national and historic level regarding the 2020 election, were details on a particularly brave whistleblower in chapter six honoring “Insiders.” The whistleblower situation involved a USPS postal worker from Erie, Pennsylvania, who inadvertently heard a directive to backdate late ballots.
On Nov. 5, 2020, “he overheard his postmaster talking about how ballots processed after Election Day should be backdated in order to be counted in the 2020 election” held Nov. 3. The Erie postman’s account helped to substantiate a similar occurrence in Michigan. These experiences may explain why vote tallying had apparently stopped for a time in key swing states.
Regardless, participating in the 2020 mail-in ballot handling firsthand myself on Election Day, it’s not hard to see how simple time-tested ballot-box stuffing could occur even without backdating. But witnessing of actual malfeasance like the postal workers did is another issue.
Yet, rather than investigating the message, the messenger was attacked.
“American Muckraker” goes into much detail on the evidently “orchestrated move by postal agents, the media, and Democrats in Congress” and their nexus that “had sabotaged an honest whistleblower and, by extension, an honest election.”
It is exceptionally well documented and frequently references scholastic and more popular sources. The book quotes often from George Orwell’s “1984,” Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals,” and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “The Gulag Archipelago” in ample defense of undercover practices as it exposes corrupt politicians (no surprise) and biased reporters and media elites (sad surprise).
Commitment to the truth emboldens the Project Veritas crew to put “cinema verite” — “cinema of truth,” a style of documentary filmmaking — into action to expose corruption at the highest levels. As American Muckraker puts it:
“Video [takes] viewers to places print never could. … Firsthand observation is the purest form of journalism. It allows the muckraker to see and hear with his own eyes and ears.”
“When evidence is offered through video and audio, viewers have more confidence in the legitimacy of the reporting than if they were merely told about the same.” … [I]n a democratic republic, protecting the people’s right to know is necessary if citizens are to make informed decisions. Without the ability to make such decisions, the public is vulnerable to the wiles of those who control the information flow.” … Whether it is Upton Sinclair using his pencil or a Project Veritas journalist using a button camera, the muckraker honors a tradition as old as the republic itself.”
“American Muckraker” exposes many arrogant elite individuals and organizations that should be running scared that the truth will set free the masses whom they so despise. And, through successful undercover journalism, Project Veritas and its allies plan to keep the elites running.
• Anthony J. Sadar is an adjunct associate professor at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and co-author of “Environmental Risk Communication: Principles and Practices for Industry, 2nd Edition” (CRC Press, 2021).
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American Muckraker: Rethinking Journalism for the 21st Century
288 pages, Jan. 25, 2022
Post Hill Press, $28
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