Anne Nelson| Journalist, Author, & Lecturer
This interview was conducted over email with Anne Nelson, journalist and author of "Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right," by Sarah Holehouse, a third-year undergraduate student working for the Duke Human Rights Center at the Franklin Humanities Institute.
What personal and/or professional experiences led you to research the secretive right-wing network scheming to consolidate political power in DC in your latest book, Shadow Network: Media, Money and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right?
I grew up in Oklahoma over the 1960s and 70s. Over the years, I noted that the political climate was changing when I went back to visit family, with the growth in media promoting disinformation and the politicization of conservative churches---but I thought it might be a local phenomenon. In 2016, I saw that the forces I had observed not only played a major role in bringing Donald Trump to power, they were also a long-standing project with national aspirations. I set about researching the network and how it has affected American politics and society.
What are some of the main discoveries or lessons from your book that you hope Duke students, faculty, and community members will understand?
I'd like the Duke community to understand how the collapse of traditional news organizations--especially local journalism--has contributed to the current political crisis. It's also important for the academy to go beyond traditional silos of research--religious studies, political science, communications--to see how these forces interact.
Why is the lens of human rights an important perspective through which to make sense of the dangerous coordinated attack on American civil liberties and the social safety net?
The projects advanced by the forces that I write about in Shadow Network are doing grievous harm to Americans. Medical expert Peter Hotez estimates that over 200,000 Americans died unnecessarily of COVID because of medical disinformation. They're promoting vaccine hesitancy, and we're seeing the dangerous recurrence of preventable childhood diseases in multiple states, including measles and whooping cough. ProPublica has reported on the deaths of at least two women in Georgia who died of pregnancy complications because doctors were afraid to administer a life-saving procedure. The LGBTQ community is being persecuted, physically attacked, and subjected to denial of service. These policies are inhumane and un-American.
Before your current work, you researched and documented the anti-Nazi resistance in Germany. How do you see the lessons from this opposition movement applying to our current political climate?
Bloomsbury Academic has just published a new edition of Red Orchestra, my book on the German Resistance. It has a major new introduction discussing this question. I think the most important points are, first, the erosion of civil liberties and the rule of law happens gradually, initially affecting minorities, then extending to everyone. This is what happened to Jewish Germans. Now we see it happening to immigrant populations here. Second, when authoritarians control media systems, they create their own twisted sense of reality among the affected populations. If they control the platforms, it can be nearly impossible for the facts to break through. Third comes the old journalists' dictum "Follow the money." The Nazis couldn't have come to power without the economic backing of cynical German industrialists. The Religious Right would be feeble without massive infusions of cash from fossil fuel interests and corporate billionaires.
What advice would you give to Duke students looking to get involved in your area of work?
I would urge Duke students to work in local journalism in Middle America over a reasonable period of time. It will pay little in money, and well in experience. Get to know the people and the influences at play, and cover the stories like a journalist while analyzing them like an academic. We're living amid an epic, historic conflict for the future of the country. This presents a challenge, but also an opportunity to observe history at close range and contribute to the survival of our democracy.