Dear Reader, Sometimes you have to face the ugly head on. Call it what it is. Sickening. Outrageous. Untenable. It's time for a change at Faster Horses. Our powerful reporting of this week shows that, plain as day and with unflinching detail. MLive’s journalists this week began publishing an investigative report on a shocking pattern of rapes, assaults and deaths at the massive musical festival over the past eight years. We tell the stories of sexual assault survivors, of the pain and anger of the family members of those who have died on the festival grounds. We described the atmospherics – 40,000 people crammed together at Michigan International Speedway for a “three-day hillbilly sleepover,” a seamy stew of alcohol and hyper-sexualized surroundings. “It is not a pretty story, and there is no nice way to tell it,” said Sara Scott, our editor on the project. “But we hope with the truth, perhaps, changes may be made to improve safety at the festival. Or, at the very least, people who attend Faster Horses know the full scope of what they’re signing up for.” Other huge music festivals happen annually without the same outcomes. In tandem with our investigation of Faster Horses, we looked at years of police reports stemming from the annual Electric Forest music festival near Muskegon. Thousands camp there over several days, too – without the pattern of assaults. “I think to some extent it’s a culture problem,” said Gus Burns, one of the MLive journalists who reported the Faster Horses story. “Maybe it's a drinking problem that promotes it. But there's really not someone holding people accountable when you're having these objectifying themed camps and everyone's cool with it.” Well, not everyone is cool with it. Like the women who filed police reports for sexual assaults, without any of them leading to convictions of their attackers. Like the sister of the woman who was found dead outside her tent an hour after having drunken sex with a concertgoer. Or the mother of the woman who was struck and killed by a car driven by a 17-year-old. Danielle Salisbury spoke to those families, as well as several of the sexual assault victims. She’s a veteranreporter with many crime stories behind her, but this one shook her. “I struggled a lot with this project, and I've talked to a lot of victims throughout my career,” she said. “Sexual assault is specifically hard because it's so personal and so intimate. When you talk to these women and hear the effects of their trauma – that's a whole different level of understanding.” There ARE things that can be done, and MLive will explore that in reporting that is still to come on Faster Horses. Selling single-day tickets, which are now not available. Providing more aggressive enforcement against under-age drinking (there were no tickets given for minor-in-possession of alcohol at last year’s event). “Some of that can come from event organizers. Some of that can come from artists who say, ‘Listen, we're not going to play here if you don't do something to curb this problem,’” Burns said. “But really, that's going to come from the fans. They have to hold each other accountable when they see people doing things that are inappropriate.” But one thing this project pointed out: Something must change at Faster Horses. Lives are at stake.
Note to readers: When you click through to read this remarkable reporting, you will find it is a Subscriber Exclusive. Why? MLive’s journalists spent half of this year investigating and reporting this story. We filed Freedom of Information Act requests on eight years of police reports. We spent $2,200 alone on those documents, and devoted months of staff time crisscrossing the state, talking to victims, experts on sexual assaults, public officials. Work like this is essential, and it’s why our journalists come to work every day. But it is expensive to produce. Your support, via a paid subscription, makes it possible now and in the future.
🎧 To hear a compelling conversation about the reporting behind the Faster Horses project, listen to my discussion with Gus Burns and Danielle Salisbury on the latest episode of Behind the Headlines, an MLive podcast. Click here to play.
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
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