Alamogordo NM
11-02-2025 1:30am

When Power Fears the Mirror: A Defense of Truth in Otero County

In Otero County, the mirror is cracking. Not from age or accident—but from the hands of those who fear reflection.

When journalism does its job, power flinches. When questions are asked, silence is demanded. When truth is spoken, lawsuits are threatened.

Recent weeks have revealed a troubling pattern:

A member of the Alamogordo school board and the superintendent in Tularosa have allegedly threatened Alamogordo Town News and the journalists job and advertisers, attempting to stifle coverage.

A seated city commissioner, has reportedly threatened to file an FCC complaint to revoke the license of KALHRadio.org, weaponizing bureaucracy against free speech due to stories on LEDA funding votes possible nepotism, and governance failures within the Chamber of Commerce which receives city funding. 

On air, a leader of the Chamber of Commerce and the sheriff’s wife have allegedly threatened litigation to silence news coverage questioning financials and leadership. 

The County Commission Chair and her colleagues on a conservative radio show suggested that the independent local news outlet AlamogordoTownNews.org should be sued, escalating the rhetoric of retaliation and called those that don’t support the chamber executive director “black scum.” 

These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a deeper illness: a fear of accountability. 

Let us be clear. The First Amendment is not a courtesy—it is a covenant. It protects not just the right to speak, but the right to question, to investigate, to illuminate. Threatening journalists with lawsuits, regulatory complaints, or public shaming is not leadership. It is cowardice.

We’ve seen this before.

• In the 1950s, McCarthyism turned suspicion into persecution, branding truth-tellers as traitors.

• In 1971, the Pentagon Papers exposed government deception, and the Supreme Court affirmed that “the press must be free to publish news, whatever the source, without censorship, injunctions, or prior restraints” (New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713).

• In recent years, local newsrooms across America have faced closures, intimidation, and legal threats—yet they remain the last line of defense against unchecked power.

When elected officials and civic leaders, and nonprofit organizations that receive taxpayer money attempt to muzzle the press, they betray the very communities they claim to serve. They forget that journalism is not the enemy of democracy—it is its heartbeat.

We must ask:

• What kind of leadership fears scrutiny more than failure?

• What kind of governance seeks silence over dialogue?

• What kind of community allows intimidation to replace integrity?

Alamogordo and Tularosa deserve better. Otero County deserves better. The taxpayers and citizens deserve better.

We deserve elected and appointed civic leaders and nonprofit executives who welcome questions, not ones who punish them. We deserve institutions that honor transparency, not ones that weaponize it. We deserve a press that is free, fearless, and protected—not one forced to choose between truth and survival.

To Our Elected Officials and Nonprofit Organization Leaders 

If you believe in your decisions, defend them with facts—not threats.

If you value community, engage with it—not silence it.

If you claim to serve the public, prove it by respecting its voice.

To Our Neighbors and Readers

Support your locally owned independent journalists. Share their stories. Defend their rights.

Attend commission meetings and public meetings of nonprofits . Ask hard questions. Demand accountability. File IPRA requests demanding transparency. 

Let this be a line in the sand. Let this be a call to conscience.

Let this be a mirror that does not crack—but reflects, clearly and bravely, the truth we must face together.

Sources:

Local reporting and community testimony compiled by Alamogordo Town News and KALHRadio.org

Knight Foundation, Local News and the Crisis of Democracy

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