Early last week, I wrote an editorial lamenting how public discourse in America has been reduced to labeling people we disagree with in the most extreme terms imaginable, all in an effort to discredit and silence those people.
By Thursday, Mississippi Today’s Editor-in-Chief decided, unwittingly, to illustrate my point. In a nearly 3,000 word screed, Adam Ganucheau described me as a “cheerleader for some of the most radical policies in Mississippi,” and said my politics were “notorious.” Notorious!
While the framing is dishonest and purposefully unflattering, the essence of the critique is that I’m a conservative. I’ve never hidden that fact. I’m also a heterodox, a pluralist and a contrarian, which means I think we are better off as a people with a robust marketplace of ideas.
So what triggered the largest and most well-funded newsroom in Mississippi to train its sights on an upstart competitor? Two weeks ago, I launched a new public affairs radio program on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
“The Sit Down with Russ Latino,” now occupies the same broadcasting air waves as programs hosted by Mississippi Today’s Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey and Managing Editor Michael Guidry. Good for the goose, but not for the gander.
Unlike other hosts, I agreed to take on the program on the express condition that I not be compensated — I have no interest in taxpayer dollars. Prior to accepting the slot, MPB’s representative from the Attorney General’s office reviewed the arrangement and approved it.
These facts, which MPB independently verified to Mississippi Today, were either omitted entirely from Ganucheau’s “story” or left to an editorial note at the article’s end that linked to a statement I provided the outlet.
Apparently, the thought of a single hour of radio a week hosted by a measured conservative, in a state that is overwhelmingly conservative, is just too much for people like Adam Ganucheau.
His article wreaks of pettiness, insecurity and a desire to cancel people who think differently. It is short on facts and named sources, and long on innuendo, speculation and ad hominem.
It’s also unsurprising. Days before Magnolia Tribune was due to launch in 2023, Ganucheau decided to break the news for us. To put it generously, the couching was not kind and was received as an effort to poison the well before water could be drawn.
Worse, the story was filled with inaccuracies, which later required him to publish corrections. So, this latest attempt to silence is par for the course.
The Notorious R.U.S.S.
Ganucheau’s “proof” of my alleged radicalism is my support for lower taxes and more options for parents in educating their children. He also points to my opposition in 2015 to a ballot measure funded by Mississippi Today benefactor Jim Barksdale that would have taken control of education policy away from your elected Mississippi Legislature.
It is true that, much like over 70 percent of Mississippians, I believe parents should have more say over how and where their children are educated. It’s also true that I helped broker the largest tax cut in Mississippi history by pushing a 4-percent flat tax when the chambers were at an impasse. It’s even true that I helped exposed the dangers of a constitutional amendment that would have turned control of our schools over to the court system. Mississippi has experienced historic gains in education since that ballot measure was defeated.
That Ganucheau describes positions supported by strong majorities in Mississippians as “radical” is more of a reflection on how disconnected both he, and large swaths of mainstream media, are from what normal people believe.
None of these positions are radical, and I’ve seen scant evidence that taking them made me notorious outside of a small pack of anonymous X/Twitter trolls who desperately want to turn Mississippi into California.
Ganucheau also says I am “anti-education,” and “anti-press.” If true, I have a funny way of showing it. Both my wife and I are the product of public education. I have three public school teachers in my family and both of my children attend Mississippi public schools.
As for the press, I run a media outlet and very much believe in the importance of a free and functioning press.
My criticism of the current state of the press is a byproduct of wanting it to be better than a forum for one-sided political agendas, straw men, and personal vendettas meant to silence and shame others. Truthfully, Ganucheau’s article is a perfect example of why that criticism is warranted. There’s a reason Americans feel like this and it’s not readers’ fault:
No There, There
The broader implication of the Mississippi Today smear is that my show is evidence of some sort of right-wing takeover of MPB. Because heaven forbid there be just a single hour a week on public radio hosted by a sensible conservative — one who happens to be very critical of the current direction of the conservative movement.
MPB’s leadership is to be commended for recognizing the need for a diversity of voices on their air.
Ganucheau draws several dots and then invites the reader to imagine connections.
The first dot is the fact that I served on MPB’s Board until June 30th of this year. That is true. As Ganucheau points out, I was unanimously confirmed by the Mississippi Senate to the Board. But let me draw a finer point. That means that all 16 Democratic members of the chamber, many of whom I’d worked with to advance the changing of the Mississippi flag and criminal justice reform, voted to confirm me.
During my tenure on the Board, my fellow board members asked me to serve as Vice Chairman twice. Ganucheau cites unnamed staff members’ supposed concern about my presence on the Board, but identifies no specific interaction and no specific decisions of the body that gave merit to those alleged fears.
The second dot plotted by Ganucheau is that well after my term ended, I was asked by MPB Executive Director Royal Ails if I might consider hosting a public affairs program.
Ganucheau downplays my experience to imply that both my original nomination to the Board and now the show must be a byproduct of political influence being exerted.
But I have hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of radio hosting and television appearances, and have been published or cited in prominent national outlets like The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, The Hill, Bloomberg and National Review. There are exceedingly few Mississippians who can say that.
Ganucheau brings up the fact that I sought an Ethics Commission opinion when I was on MPB’s Board to ensure there was no conflict while running Magnolia Tribune. That’s true and is pretty good evidence of how seriously I take compliance. What he fails to explain is the reason I sought that opinion. As a board member, I would have access to internal information and influence over the agency.
I’m no longer a board member. I no longer have that access or influence. Accordingly, the potential for conflict has ended, unless of course, both Ramsey and Guidry also have an ethical conflict in working for Mississippi Today and MPB at the same time. (They don’t and never in a million years would I try to get them cancelled).
Finally, Ganucheau ignores the fact that the Attorney General’s office signed off on the show. He has a history of discounting Attorney General approvals of agency decisions. When his mom, Stephanie Ganucheau, was the attorney assigned to IHL during Jim Hood’s last term, she recommended approval of the lease agreement for the volleyball stadium at the center of the TANF scandal.
In pursuit of its Pulitzer, Mississippi Today failed to mention Mrs. Ganucheau’s role until after Y’all Politics raised the conflict.
Tune in for Yourself
“The Sit Down with Russ Latino” will be broadcast live every Wednesday at 10 a.m. on MPB think radio. You can also download the show as a podcast on platforms like Apple and Spotify. Tune in for yourself. This Wednesday, Mississippi native and MSNBC political contributor Elise Jordan will join us to break down the election.
Russ Latino
