PASADENA, Calif. — Oregonians have had more than a year to follow the story of Ammon Bundy, leader of the 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in early 2016. Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy, and a group of followers seized control of the refuge, located 30 miles south of Burns, as a protest against what they considered unjust federal land policies.
The conflict, and the larger story of the Bundys and their cause, have been extensively covered by The Oregonian/Oregonlive. The case will get more national exposure with “American Patriot,” a documentary coming to PBS’ “Frontline,” on April 4.
During a question-and-answer session here at the Television Critics Association 2017 winter press tour Sunday, Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer of “Frontline,” and reporters involved in the “American Patriot” documentary talked about the film.
Still in production, the documentary will examine the battle between the Bundy family — including Ammon and Ryan’s Nevada cattle rancher father, Cliven — and the government, as well as the larger so-called “patriot” movement, and its anti-government beliefs.
A clip from the documentary showed Bundy being interviewed at the Multnomah County Detention Center, and pro-Bundy demonstrators outside the building.
Bundy said their Second Amendment rights to bear arms didn’t exist so they could “go hunting.”
They knew, Bundy said, that if they had weapons, government forces would “respect us and allow us to speak.” If they didn’t have arms, Bundy said, they would have been tased, or sprayed with Mace.
Their message, Bundy said, “was too important,” and that’s why his supporters had guns.
In the discussion that followed the brief clip, Richard Rowley, producer of “American Patriot,” said the film looks at the question of what it is to be American, what patriotism is and the “clash of narratives” about the country and its direction.
When reporters suggested that the title “American Patriot” seemed sympathetic to anti-government groups and self-styled militias, Rowley said it was important to listen to those groups, while also talking to the FBI and other government sources, for a nuanced investigation.
The election of Donald Trump, Rowley said, demonstrates that there has been “a major blind spot” about movements playing a role in shaping the country.
“It’s our reporting mission,” Rowley said, to go into that blind spot and try and understand the economic and cultural forces that are animating anti-government groups.
The Bundys are the narrative spine, Rowley said, for a broader look.
When asked if “American Patriot” ran the risk of seeming to “normalize” beliefs and behavior of the Bundys and those who support them, Aronson-Rath said the “Frontline” mission is to report stories from multiple points of view, not giving people a megaphone, but having a dialogue.
Paying attention to the polarization in the country is important at this point, Aronson-Rath added.
“American Patriot” is also a collaborative project with the public radio program, “This American Life.”
Karen Duffin, who works for “This American Life,” said the radio story is not as focused on the Bundys, but more on the broader “patriot” movement. Duffin has talked to militia groups in six or seven different states, she said. She compared the groups’ belief that government has overstepped to a religion. For many so-called “patriots,” Duffin said, “their Bible is the Constitution.”
And guns play a role, Duffin said, adding that one of the groups she’s been speaking to isn’t going to Trump’s inauguration because it’s not in an open-carry state.
Rowley said it took weeks to convince the Bundys and their supporters to talk with them. The first response from most of the people in the movement that they talked to, Rowley said, was to think the documentary crew was from the FBI.
