DES MOINES, Iowa — Hello. My name is Ryan Robertson and I'm the news Director at Local 5.
Most of the time, you don't see me on camera. I'm usually behind the scenes where I have the great honor and responsibility of leading this team of Journalists as we endeavor each day to bring you the truth.
So, why am I here?
Well, these are interesting times. The last 12 months is certainly the most interesting, chaotic, exhausting, and important year of my career thus far.
After a year plagued by so much darkness, we--like you-- were hopeful for a brighter 2021.
That hope was all but snuffed out just six days into the new year… when a violent mob breached the Beacon of Democracy in our nation… trying to overturn, through their insurrectionist acts, the result of a free and fair election.
In the aftermath of this attack, journalists need to be bold and stand strong for truth.
So why am I here? To be bold, and tell you the truth.
In the last few months, we've received dozens, maybe hundreds of phone calls, emails and social media messages claiming the election was stolen. Saying we, the people working for this station—who live in the same community as you—that we are the enemy of the people. That we are your enemy.
We were told to remember Iowa went red in the election and we shouldn't bite the hand that feeds us ... that we should know our place.
We are not the enemy and our place, as journalists, is right here… seeking and speaking truth…. Even if people don't like that truth… maybe especially when people don't like that truth.
The truth of the 2020 presidential election is this: it was not stolen.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won, and the election was fair.
More than 60 legal challenges were dismissed by Democratic and Republican judges. The conservative majority Supreme Court, the Republican leader of the U.S. Senate, the Republican former Attorney General, even the Republican Vice President are all in agreement with this truth.
Any claim, article, post, or tweet doubting the veracity of the outcome of our election is based on lies. Lies meant to sow hatred and distrust. Lies meant to destroy relationships and divide Americans.
Those same lies, fomented by the outgoing President, led directly to the insurrection we saw unfold live in Washington DC. There is no other way around that truth.
And still today, even more lies are being told in an attempt to make us believe groups like Antifa, and not Trump supporters, were the ones roaming the halls of the Capitol.
In the aftermath of the assault, I've seen and heard many people say "we're better than this"... But that's not true either. Because the truth is, this is America right now. Divided. Angry. Hurting.
We aren't better than this because we are this, but we don't have to be. We can be better than this.
It starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with a nation committing itself to the ideals of equality and justice. Where the ultimate power to decide our fate rests not in the hands of one man, but in the power of our vote and the sanctity of our democratic process.
We find ourselves now on the eve of a new chapter in our nation…Let us hope as we write this next part of our story together... it's a story future generations of Americans will be proud to read.
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