Independent journalism, media literacy, and thoughts on establishing a more democratic and accountable press in the digital age
The media should work for the people — not against them.
Welcome!
In case you’re wondering who I am, and what this newsletter is all about, here’s a little background:
I’m a freelance journalist and photographer based in Metro Detroit. My roles in the media industry over the last decade have ranged from working as an editorial intern/fact-checker at a regional lifestyle magazine in college to working as a photojournalist and freelance reporter for local news outlets and magazines in Michigan and California, as a marketing assistant and event coordinator for a major American motorcycle company, and as an editorial photographer for a variety of brands and small businesses in Detroit and Los Angeles, where I lived for about half a decade.
In case you’re worried that I sound just a little too bourgeois — I’m not. I worked as a waitress at a lot of restaurants in Michigan and California while I held all of those fancy-sounding positions (none of them paid very well). I’ve also worked in retail at the mall, at an art supplies store, at a camera shop, as a food delivery driver, a substitute teacher, a post-production runner, a photo assistant, a photo retoucher, a door-to-door fundraiser on a campaign to save a bunch of trees from deforestation … and more. *falls over*
Over the last several years, my frustration with the press and media in general has grown exponentially as primary-source fact-checking practices rapidly declined and profit-generating algorithms caused a bizarre form of click-bait journalism to dominate the internet. At the same time, the measured and accurate news coverage that once (briefly) dominated our airwaves and cable news networks was quietly replaced by sensational “red herring,” “ad hominem,” and pundit-style news coverage — a trend that cannot be explained as easily as algorithmic phenomena.
Over the last several years, my frustration with the press has grown exponentially.
At the onset of the pandemic, that frustration hit fever pitch when a feature I’d been writing about legislation related to pregnant prisoners in Michigan was abruptly killed. I’d spent a month researching the state’s legislation history, reviewing local prison policies, filing FOIA requests, and conducting interviews with criminal justice reform advocates, prison doulas, physicians, and prison officials. Because the editor at the news outlet I’d written the feature for had decided to focus exclusively on the pandemic, stories about local porch concerts and neighborhood watch meetings moving online were published in its place — even as pregnant inmates remained behind bars at a nearby prison.
After adding new details about the pandemic and re-pitching the story to almost every other relevant magazine and news outlet in Michigan, it still took two more months to find a home for it. Editors routinely ignored or rejected it, and with each new rejection I felt a little more helpless — how was it possible that not a single editor in the state thought the story was even worth looking at? Ultimately, the editor at the only outlet left to pitch agreed to publish it in print and online.
I was relieved, but also rattled. Several years earlier, a photojournalist friend in Los Angeles had experienced similar roadblocks while pitching a significant humanitarian story to editors at several major news outlets on both coasts. The experience had broken his faith in our press. He’d quit photojournalism, began a new career in an unrelated field, and never looked back. Thinking back on his experience, and now mine, I wondered how many important stories are left untold each year — unable to get beyond the gates, silenced despite their value?
After complaining to friends about several more rejections that didn’t make sense to me over the year that followed, along with the lack of news coverage of so many important topics, multiple people began to suggest that I start a blog. It would be good to have a place to read those kinds of stories, I was told again and again, even if it’s not for a traditional outlet.
Thinking back on my friend’s experience, and now mine, I wondered how many important stories are left untold each year.
That said, most of my opinions about the press and media industry are based on my own personal experiences. You may have had different experiences than mine, and you may have different opinions than I have — and that’s awesome.
I want to hear about them.
One of the things I loved most (and very much miss) about the earlier days of the internet was using it to connect with real people in meaningful ways. I’d like to recreate that here by striking up real conversations and searching for real solutions together.
So that’s my story, and those are my values and the reasons behind this newsletter. If you’re interested in reading more of my work, you can also check out some of my “real” reporting here.