“Where are the journalists?”  Part Three:  As pixels replace paper, journalism still aims to hold powerful to account
Nov27

“Where are the journalists?” Part Three: As pixels replace paper, journalism still aims to hold powerful to account

This three-part series, concluding with this installment, aims to explore, analyze and lament how many forces challenging the Fourth Estate are playing out in our own community – specifically in a close look at changes in The Flint Journal, now dwindled to a local staff of fewer than 10 people, and subsumed by M-Live Media Group and Advance Publications, its corporate owner. We contend that as the whole of journalism struggles, its...

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How the Flint Journal helped oust a Socialist mayor:  recapturing a look at Flint’s “yellow journalism” past
Nov26

How the Flint Journal helped oust a Socialist mayor: recapturing a look at Flint’s “yellow journalism” past

by Harold C. Ford Ed. note:  this historical analysis originally appeared in the September, 1983 issue of The Michigan Voice, (Vol. 7, No. 6). We are reprinting it with Harold Ford’s permission to complement and offer it as background to his current series “Where are the Journalists?” concluding with Part Three now available here.  We reprint this piece as it appeared in 1983, except for lightly editing into AP and...

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“Flint and the Rock Daughter”:  Women of the water crisis inspire a new myth
Nov23

“Flint and the Rock Daughter”: Women of the water crisis inspire a new myth

By Jan Worth-Nelson “Mother Flint, my daughters said, we will be your courageous truth tellers…Mother we are your bedrock daughters, your breathing water, and your living fire.  We will not rest until you are restored.  Until you are healed.  We are your radical hope.” –Natasha Thomas-Jackson, “Flint and the Rock Daughter” The Flint Water Crisis has poisoned children, created physical and economic...

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It’s “Detroit water” for 30 years:  Flint city council approves GLWA contract 5-4
Nov22

It’s “Detroit water” for 30 years: Flint city council approves GLWA contract 5-4

By Meghan Christian After a week of marathon-like meetings, the Flint City Council approved Resolution 170354.3, a 30-year contract with the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), with a close vote of five to four on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Those in favor were Eric Mays (First Ward), Maurice Davis (Second Ward), Santino Guerra (Third Ward), Jerri Winfrey-Carter (Fifth Ward), and Herbert Winfrey (Sixth Ward). Those opposed were Kate Fields...

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Online “MapFlint” project offers mass of data for public use
Nov20

Online “MapFlint” project offers mass of data for public use

By Jan Worth-Nelson An interactive, open-access mapping project that offers data about the city on everything from educational attainment to median household income to locations of schools, medical services and locations for meal services is now online at mapflint.org/maps.html. The project is a collaboration of two University of Michigan – Flint units, University Outreach and the Geographic Information Center of the Department...

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