The Archer is my newsletter about extremism in American politics. I’m Will Fritz, a journalist who started off in local news in Southern California and ended up writing about national issues from New York City.
I’ve named this newsletter for a cousin of mine, the late Archer Fullingim, owner of the Kountze News in Texas and known for his decades’ worth of fearless, scathing editorials that made their way far outside the small town he was based in. In this new era of radicalization and naked misinformation, I felt that the fighting spirit he exhibited is something that’s much needed.
This newsletter will be a mix of independent reporting and editorials. It will be told from my perspective. I’ll make no pretenses about being “unbiased” or “fair and balanced” — all those concepts have ever done is center powerful people and dominant ideologies. But what I will be is honest, always. I’ll tell you exactly who I am: an investigative reporter from my earliest days at San Diego State, a gay man who raised by a trans mom on military bases. I consider myself a progressive and everything I write will be colored by this. But I’m loyal to my beliefs, not any particular politicians.
I hope you come to find my work valuable as I grow this platform. Thanks for reading.
