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Andy Brehm’s June 6 column “Alpha News deserves respect from its competitors” misses the mark. Respect in journalism is not a courtesy extended to any outlet with a camera and a website — it must be earned through truth-telling, transparency and a genuine commitment to the public interest. Alpha News has failed to meet those standards.
As a civil rights attorney, activist and former law professor, I’ve spent the past two decades on the front lines of police accountability and racial justice. I have seen firsthand how misinformation fuels division and distrust. That’s exactly what Alpha News has consistently trafficked in — particularly in its inflammatory coverage of George Floyd’s murder and its aftermath.
The outlet’s so-called “documentary” — “The Fall of Minneapolis” — is a glaring example. Far from a balanced account, it selectively presents interviews and edits footage to cast doubt on the well-documented facts of Floyd’s death. This is not journalism — it’s propaganda in service of a political agenda.
Alpha News’s credibility is further undermined by its personnel. One of its most prominent figures, Liz Collin, previously worked as a reporter at WCCO but left after public backlash over her failure to disclose her relationship with Bob Kroll, the former president of the Minneapolis police union. Kroll, whose leadership was defined by hostility toward police reform and protesters, was a named defendant in a lawsuit I filed along with several other residents, Armstrong v. City of Minneapolis, which resulted in a settlement and his ban from working in law enforcement in three Minnesota counties for a decade. These facts are not personal attacks — they are matters of public record and relevance.
Rather than advocating for the elevation of Alpha News, Brehm might consider highlighting local media outlets that have long demonstrated integrity, accuracy and deep community connection. Chief among them is the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder — the state’s oldest Black-owned newspaper, celebrating 90 years of uninterrupted publication. Led by a Black woman, Tracey Williams-Dillard, and grounded in principled reporting, the MSR has long been a trusted voice for Black Minnesotans and a vital part of our local media ecosystem. Yet I’ve never seen Brehm — or others pushing this defense of Alpha News — lift up or advocate for support of MSR.
At a time when our nation is grappling with intensifying racial division, the rise of anti-Blackness, anti-immigrant sentiment and the proliferation of disinformation, we must be discerning about which platforms we trust and amplify. The stakes are too high to normalize media that sows distrust, inflames bias and distorts the truth.
