Alabama is one of the most conservative and Christian states in the entire nation, yet the viewpoints of those populations have largely not been represented by their media ecosystem.
In the last few years, however, one group of Alabama conservatives launched a news outlet that is now so effective at exposing corruption and compromise in the state that elected officials are known to fear waking up in the morning and finding their names on its website.
Bryan Dawson, the chief executive officer of 1819 News, said in an interview with The Sentinel that his organization has developed their success by focusing on quality journalism, proactively breaking news rather than reacting to progressives, and relentlessly prioritizing the life of their own communities and state over what may be occurring in national politics.
“Alabama is arguably the most conservative state in the nation as far as the people are concerned, but our politics and public policy didn't reflect those values,” Dawson commented. “There were many organizations with a ‘seat at the table,’ from major corporations to the teacher’s union, but because the people did not have a seat at the table, we set about to create a news and media outlet that would give them a voice.”
1819 News entered a local media landscape dominated by AL.com, which Dawson says is deeply misaligned with the values of the state, as evidenced by their current editor-in-chief facing legal challenges from his time at a previous employer where he allegedly implemented a policy against hiring straight white men. “The content they put out is a steady stream of articles shaming the people of this state for their beliefs and way of life,” Dawson contended. Other news outlets are meanwhile funded by major corporations and lobbying groups, a reality which Dawson believes prevents honest journalism and fails to hold institutions accountable.
“When the power is the funding source of the news outlet, the journalists are prevented from scrutinizing the power. That entire funding structure has done irreparable harm to journalism,” Dawson told The Sentinel. “The liberals had their media outlet, the corporations and lobbyists had theirs, but the people didn't have one. At the end of the day, we created a news and multimedia platform for the people of Alabama because they needed a voice.”
1819 News, named after the year Alabama was founded, started three years ago as a project of the Alabama Policy Institute but moved to an independent nonprofit model at the beginning of last year. Their newsroom is led by editor-in-chief Jeff Poor, who worked under Tucker Carlson at The Daily Caller and for Steve Bannon at Breitbart, but eventually “wanted to use his gifts to change the state he grew up in for the better.” 1819 News has two more editors and five reporters.
Various investigations from 1819 News spotlighting efforts from the people of Alabama to represent their own interests have contributed to conservative policy wins. The outlet has especially focused on education, publishing multiple stories revealing how the teacher’s union in the state was funding Alabama Republican candidates despite state party bylaws asking that they refrain from taking money from such groups. Alabama finally passed a universal school choice bill this year after 1819 News showed the conflict of interest among Republicans.
“Exposing wickedness in the schools, revealing the union’s influence over Republican legislators, and highlighting private schools doing exceptional work with less money was apparently enough to bring national school choice winds blowing into Alabama,” Dawson said.
The outlet has also reported on a group of parents in Prattville who called for sexually explicit books to be removed from their library system and then took over every seat on the library board. They likewise uncovered how one Huntsville government school teacher was moonlighting as a drag queen and admitting to covertly placing material about homosexuality and transgenderism in his classroom, forcing his retirement shortly thereafter.
Dawson and his team are motivated by a mindset of Christian localism which calls for building institutions that impact communities before the broader nation. When asked by The Sentinel how Christians across the country could practically start to act upon a similar perspective, he responded by exhorting parents to immediately pull their children from government schools.
“It would literally be game over for the regime,” Dawson said. “I believe the first institutions Christians should build are classical Christian schools. If Christian children were being brought up with a Christian education that brought Christ to bear on every square inch of life instead of hoping they survive in a public school, the nation would be unrecognizable in twenty years.”
Dawson, who became a Christian while in prison, lauded the believers who “came over the ocean and landed on the shores of this continent” in order to “extend the boundaries of Christ’s Kingdom” while building universities, hospitals, and “all kinds of other institutions with future generations in mind.” He lamented how “we have since handed over all those once-Christian institutions to pagans who hate Christ while doing little to no institutional building of our own.”
“The importance of the local over the national cannot be overstated. We can't fix Washington. It’s like trying to put out the sun with a water pistol. It's impossible at this moment in time,” Dawson observed. “However, we can make a difference where we live. If each individual state sought to bring its government into submission to Christ, the nation would follow.”
