Journalists feel the heaviness of this time, too
It has been an extraordinary couple of weeks for our journalists. As much as you, the reader, have felt the heaviness of this moment in America, our reporters and photographers are living it, too.
Like you, they are people and citizens who have been shaken by all of the dimensions of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police – the protests, the riots, the tough questions that lead to raw conversations about our society, our biases and our privileges.
But like Lindsay Moore, a reporter in Kalamazoo, they have the duty of capturing not only the immediate news out of these times, but portraying the whole spectrum of opinions, incidents and actors in a way that produces understanding and insight.
Moore, along with reporter Kayla Miller and photojournalist Joel Bissell, were in the thick of the protests, police response, and chaotic aftermath of destruction and looting that followed in Kalamazoo last week. They are representative of the MLive journalists around the state that covered protests in Grand Rapids, Lansing, Flint, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Saginaw and other cities.
Like their peers, they provided critical information and images to readers. Like their peers, they were directly in harm’s way. Moore and Miller both got caught up in the tear gas fired by police (“You’re sobbing like a soap opera star,” Moore said), and Bissell encountered a surreal downtown scene at midnight with cars speeding by at 80 mph, the sound of sirens and breaking windows, and a cloud of tear gas drifting from a city park.
“It’s really hard to pull your own emotions out from the reporting, when one of the major emotions you are experiencing is fear,” Miller said.
And like their peers, the Kalamazoo Gazette journalists all live in and around the city where they work. They are invested in ways that go beyond serving the readers. Bissell picked his cameras back up and met Moore at the scene of the fire, which had come after a long and dramatic day of protests, police response and rioting in downtown Kalamazoo.
“The mayor, former mayor, city commissioners and county commissioners were standing there in awe,” Bissell said. “They just talked about the hurt that Kalamazoo, the nation, Michigan … everywhere is feeling over this. Where do we go from here? There’s so much hurt and so much pain in these communities, what’s the best way to move forward from this?”
Moore said it’s “a daunting task” to show all sides of an extremely chaotic series of events. On her way back to our news hub in downtown Kalamazoo after protesters had been dispersed, she saw the assistant police chief – who in one evening had gone from kneeling with protesters, to ordering tear gas deployed on them after curfew – and asked how he was.
More than a week after America’s pain spilled into action in our cities, all of us are trying to find ways to turn it into progress. MLive journalists have an obligation to stand apart and tell a complete story, but they also naturally want to step forward as members of their communities.
“I’ve been trying to process since last Tuesday what I experienced, the content I created out of that experience, and the feedback from the community,” Miller said. “I’ve been trying to think beyond the breaking news – not just our community, but myself. I’m moving into downtown this summer. I’m excited to be more a part of the city.”
Bissell wonders, “How do you not feel emotion?” but then adds, “How do I put the best eyes as a journalist on this, so that we can tell this story?”
He covered the aftermath of the confrontations, when marchers returned in peace, when volunteers came to clean up the damage, when artists painted beautiful murals over plywood sheets in storefronts.
“It was amazing to then see all this pain and all this anger and destruction, and then the community come back together.”
Our communities and nation do not have the answers – not yet. But conversations start when people are being heard, and MLive journalists are committed to bringing those voices forward.
Editor's note: I value your feedback to my columns, story tips and your suggestions on how to improve our coverage. Let me know how MLive helps you, and how we can do better. Please feel free to reach out by emailing me at editor@mlive.com.
John Hiner Executive Editor Vice President of Content Mlive Media Group
Having trouble viewing this email? View in your browser.
To ensure receipt of our emails, please add newsletters@update.mlive.com to your address book or safe sender list. You received this email because you are a subscriber to MLive.com newsletters. |