Today was a pretty typical day in our Detroit newsroom. Reporters worked on stories about the housing commission and the city not hiring for important positions. We also got a text message ready to send to a few thousand Detroiters about how to challenge their property tax assessments. We texted back and forth with a few other people about challenges they’re having, including one man who has had his electricity disconnected for more than a week in freezing temperatures.
I edited a guide we’re working on with another newsroom to help parents access the few transportation options we have to get children to and from school. Then we planned a live, citizen-led fact-checking of an upcoming speech by the mayor. We also sent out one of our weekly newsletters connecting Detroiters to updates on a state minimum wage push and new places to find vegan pizza and Yemeni coffee. We also taught a new batch of Detroit Documenters how to live tweet what happens in city meetings.
Our work is not yet typical of local news. But our approach, to center and respond to Detroiters’ information gaps and address the systemic failures that create harm in our community is exactly the kind of work contemplated by the Roadmap for Local News, written by local news heavyweights Elizabeth Green, Darryl Holliday and Mike Rispoli after months of interviews with dozens of people, including myself, who work in or around local news.
