The Death of Bubba Copeland: Media war heats up as Dale Jackson slams 'liberal media' for copping out
LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA: Radio and TV host Dale Jackson recently slammed some media outlets for copping out on their coverage on the death of FL "Bubba" Copeland, the Smiths Station mayor and First Baptist Church of Phoenix City pastor who took his own life after shocking details of his "alter ego" Brittini Blaire Summerlin came to light.
Jackson took to X (formely Twitter) to share a video of himself discussing the press coverage of Copeland's death on YellowHammer Now with a caption that read, "The Bubba Copeland story is not over. The mainstream media is getting some pushback and it is coming from inside their house."
The Bubba Copeland story is not over.
— Dale Jackson - "Alabama's Most Trusted Journalist" (@TheDaleJackson) November 10, 2023
The mainstream media is getting some pushback and it is coming from inside their house. pic.twitter.com/PE2AYM2txe
In the video, the talk show host addressed "how ridiculous the media's coverage has been of everything that has happened involving Bubba Copeland," calling out publications that slammed 1819 News for publishing the original story about Copeland.
"Now you can be outraged that Bubba Copeland was driven to suicide by 1819 News, you are not right but you can hold that position," Jackson began.
"What you can't do, if you are honest with yourself, is pretend that there was no newsworthiness in the coverage. 'Cause that's just a lie," he stated.
"And it's a lie that many in the media are telling themselves, for one reason and one reason only, they are telling themselves that so they can justify not covering the story," the host continued.
Jackson also said that he thought the "entire time" that there was "newsworthiness in the story and the attempts to downplay it even after his [Copeland's] death are disingenuous at best."
Dale Jackson rips into media outlets blaming 1819 News over Bubba Copeland's fate
Speaking about the media coverage on Copeland's death, Jackson said, "You have seen a couple of media outlets actually push back a little against 1819 News, or assuming against AL.com's narrative, and called them out for their dishonesty, let's just put it that way."
Jackson then highlighted a story on Alabama Today by April Marie Fogel titled "Alabama Media Group repeatedly misleads readers, dismisses victims, in Smith Station Bubba Copeland coverage."
He argued, "she wrote a piece where she lays out in detail how AL.com has taken this position, also known as the Alabama Media Group, has taken this position against 1819 News, because they are formerly owned by the Alabama Policy Institute."
"That they are somehow not a legitimate news outlet, which is not true," he mentioned, adding that they are "a news outlet with a conservative bent."
"But so is YellowHammer News, so is Alabama Today," Jackson pointed out.
"You can make the argument that that's the position they come from if you want to," he mentioned. "What you can't do is ignore large portions of the story," Jackson stated.
"In the original piece written by 1819 News, Bubba Copeland's misdeeds were laid bare and it goes far beyond wearing women's clothing. That was just a part of the story," he noted.
"A pretty substantial part of the story because we had images that went with it," Jackson added. "But there were more parts to the story," he said.
"In the original reporting by 1819 News they pointed that stuff out, the erotic slasher fiction or use of real names of real people," Jackson pointed out.
"He was a pastor, that's out of bounds. He was mayor, that's out of bounds. The use of a minor's picture in a meme about transitioning and becoming a wh*re, that's out of bounds as a mayor or a pastor," he argued.
"Those two things are bad enough. Now we have learnt that he took women's photos and posted them on porn sites and things like that," Jackson argued.
The talk show host went on to claim that there are people on social media defending Copeland because "they think he is transgender. That's it."
"Once he put that dress on they could not out him for anything else or acknowledge anything else that he did wrong because if they did, what it would do is make it appear that he was mentally ill and they won't do that," Jackson said.
"Because of the stigma that comes with being mentally ill and transgender," he alleged. "Bubba Copeland would be referenced a lot over the next couple of years in Alabama," Jackson stated.
"Anytime an LGBTQ bill comes out they'll say, 'well this is what drove Bubba Copeland to suicide.' It'll be said on the House floor in Alabama. You'll hear a lot about it," Jackson claimed.
He then went back to the story by Alabama Today and said that "they've laid out basically how they've gone and just decided that this was a non story, how 1819 News drove him to suicide."
"They got a piece out at AL.com today talking about how anti-LGBTQ writer led to this guy's death," Jackson continued, adding, "No! This guy was doing shady stuff in his life and that was being exposed, that's what led to his death."
"It is really unfair to 1819 News for them to be doing this the way they are doing it. There was plenty of questionable behavior going on by this individual, Bubba Copeland," Jackson mentioned.
Jackson then said that he was "kinda surprised" after reading an analytical from Cameron Smith, who is a regular guest on his radio and TV show, titled "A different news outlet might have saved Bubba Copeland."
"I feel the headline is questionable and one of the conclusions it comes to is actually questionable as well," Jackson said. "But that's a matter of opinion, he is a opinion columnist, I am a talk show host," he clarified.
"Cameron lays out, I think, a defense of 1819 News," Jackson opined. "What he says is 1819 News covering this story was legitimate and the stuff that he [Copeland] was doing was questionable," he added.
"But this part I think sticks out," Jackson noted, quoting a paragraph from the piece that read, "in hindsight critics have argued that Copeland's suicide was foreseeable result of 1819's negative media attention. If news outlets can't report about public figures because they might harm themselves, then we'll have little real accountability. Media outlets regularly deem a public official's private life to be relevant and newsworthy even if it is uncomfortable at times."
"That's a defense of 1819 News' reporting," Jackson said. He then noticed how Smith referenced John Merill "and all the issues the former Secretary of State had and AL.com reported those."
Jackson then noted, "the conclusion he [Smith] comes to at the end is that 1819 News needs to do better."
The host went on to quote another paragraph from the article, which read, "To borrow from scripture, 1819 News took the broad road with the wide gate instead of the narrow path consistent with what many of them and their supporters claim to believe. It’s hard to blame them for behaving like so many current media outlets. In times like these, we could use something different."
"So I tend to disagree with the conclusion here that 1819 News should have written a different story or done it somehow differently," Jackson shared.
He noted how Smith even mentioned at one point that "they should have gone to his church and talk to them and told them all that he was doing," before saying, "That's not their role."
"Their role is to inform people what's going on," Jackson said. "If my son was in that church and the pastor was doing that, I'd want to know. If I was giving money to that church, I'd want to know. If my mayor was doing these things, I'd wanna know," he stated.
"This was clearly in the public interest," Jackson argued. "This didn't involve hacked emails or anything like that; this involved tips from citizens that led reporters to information that they confirmed was, in fact, the mayor. And then they reported it," he asserted.
"They went to the number one guy, which was Bubba Copeland, and they ran with the story. 1819 News did nothing wrong," Jackson argued.
"The people that did something wrong here is the rest of the media. Smearing reporters because they work for outlets they don't like. That's all this is," he alleged.
"You can't really find any other reason to fault 1819 News' reporting. Nothing in it is disproven, nothing in it is fake. He is a public figure and they went in and found public things. They went directly to him to talk to him about it," Jackson continued.
Dale Jackson believes 1819 News is owed an apology over Bubba Copeland coverage
As part of his video, Jackson said, "Bubba Copeland is responsible for what happened here, all the way around, from the beginning of the story to the end."
"His predilection, his issue, agree with that. But people have a right to know that stuff, people have a right to know what's going on," Jackson argued.
"Had it just been the dress, the dressing as a woman, maybe you could have argued they shouldn't have covered the story but that's not all that they found, that's not all that they published in their first story," he clarified.
"So it's time for the Alabama media to own what they are doing here. They owe 1819 News an apology. They should atone for their terrible behavior," Jackson stated.
"And if they are acknowledging that personal lives are off limits, how are they gonna do their job? And the answer is, they're not," he claimed.
"Their patting themselves on the back for not covering the story, they are all using the exact same verbage and leaving out the exact same details," the talk show host noted.
"So here are the facts, Bubba Copeland, yes, was a self-described 'curvy, transgender, transitioning girl' but he also abused the trust of the people in his church and the city by writing erotic slasher fiction involving real people, posting people's photos to porn websites and using a minor's photo in a sexually suggestive meme about transitioning, those are all newsworthy things," Jackson alleged.
"Do I expect the media to come around and come correct? Absolutely not," he said.
"'Cause this is who they are, this is why people hate them. And whatever your disdain is, whatever amount of disdain you feel for journalists in the mainstream media, it is not enough," Jackson said.
"They are the enemy of the people," he slammed. "They believe that if you have the right sexuality or gender identity or sexual kink, you should be ignored," Jackson alleged.
"We'll see how far this exemption goes in the future when Alabama journalists have to do their job," he mentioned.
"My guess is, it's all going to depend on whether or not that individual journalist or outlet agrees with the person they are covering. That's gonna be the standard. That's not jounalism, just be clear, that's not journalism," he concluded.
Who owns 1819 News?
Back in 2020, 1819 News intially started as a podcast, the '1819 News Recap', which was released by the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative state think tank.
The publication, 1819 News, was launched in October 2021, as a subsidiary of the Alabama Policy Institute.
Former Alabama state senator Phil Williams, who was institute's chief policy officer at the time, was involved in the creation of the outlet alongside Alabama Policy Institute president Caleb Crosby.
However, 1819 News started functioning as an independent non-profit organization since January 2023. "1819 News announced its formal independence from the Alabama Policy Institute (API)," a press release mentioned.
"1819 News, which first began publishing in October 2021, was previously a fully-owned subsidiary of the Alabama Policy Institute," the statement read.
"It became clear years ago that our state needed an independent news organization operated by people with Alabama values," API President and CEO Caleb Crosby said at the time.
"When we met Bryan, API knew he was the person to make this idea a reality. Since then, it has taken a tremendous amount of work to get 1819 News to where it is today, ready to stand on its own feet, independent of API's ownership. We couldn't be more excited for 1819 News and the positive impact we know it will continue to have on Alabama," he had said.
1819 News President and CEO Bryan Dawson said, "1819 News simply would not be here without the Alabama Policy Institute."
"I am grateful for their trust and guidance as we worked to get 1819 News off the ground," he mentioned.
"True independence was always part of the plan, and I am excited that we are at the point where 1819 News can operate unaided," Dawson added.
"This formal separation demonstrates the commitment of both API and 1819 News to providing Alabama with a genuinely independent news organization," he stated.
"I could not be more proud of what we've accomplished so far, and I am confident the best is yet to come– for 1819 News, the Alabama Policy Institute, and our great state," Dawson concluded.