🚨🚨THREAD: Just like what happened in Flint, around now—about a week of major coverage—is when national media will stop covering the #JacksonWaterCrisis & begin lazily regurgitating cherry-picked/manipulated water data and PR coming from the state govt that caused the crisis...
They will move from broadcast/digital coverage to occasional news article updates--which will become less & less frequent until the story is completely out of the news. The void of news, interviews w/ residents, or investigative reporting into...
1) who caused the crisis
2) who and what entities have profited
3) who is covering it up
4) The ongoing racism behind it
5) Disastrous health affects on residents...
2) who and what entities have profited
3) who is covering it up
4) The ongoing racism behind it
5) Disastrous health affects on residents...
will ultimately leave Jackson eerily similar to Flint, which is still VERY much an ongoing crisis (despite BS media headlines, Flint's water is still toxic 8+ years later, all the corroded water pipes haven't been replaced, residents are getting sicker and dying).
And the most disheartening part from a journalistic point of view; like has happened w/ me personally MANY times with #FlintWaterCrisis reporting, there will be journalists who dig up and are ready to break major investigative bombshells on the Jackson water crisis...
who have great sources and docs—who get turned down by the NY Times, Washington Post, AP, Daily Beast, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, BuzzFeed, Newsweek, etc. The outlets editors; mostly wealthy cosmopolitan types far far disconnected from places like Flint and Jackson will all..
Give different weak/disingenuous excuses like:
1) We don't have the resources/bandwidth
2) Weren't these things already kind of known?
3) We don't really use freelancers (they have in the past)
4) Is there a Trump connection (yes I've been asked)
1) We don't have the resources/bandwidth
2) Weren't these things already kind of known?
3) We don't really use freelancers (they have in the past)
4) Is there a Trump connection (yes I've been asked)
5) For amount of resources we'd have to invest in editing/legal review, we can't do (i.e. we don't see the clicks)
6) The story happened so long ago we don't feel there's enough viewer/reader interest
7) My dog ate my homework...
6) The story happened so long ago we don't feel there's enough viewer/reader interest
7) My dog ate my homework...
🚨NEWSFLASH: as someone who has spent 50% of my time as a reporter covering water contamination and government cover-ups. There are MANY Jacksons and Flints. Water infrastructure in most of America is 50-75 years old; in many places over 100 years old...
Most water treatment plants are also very old with outdated equipment or lack of critical equipment to safely treat water for drinking consumption. Water plants are also often understaffed or staffed with inexperienced workers...
Beyond the aging and corroded lead service lines, there's also the major issue of industrial CORPORATE pollution into water ways that are barely regulated by EPA or state agencies. There's also the issue of water departments cheating on water testing to produce lower lead...
and other heavy metals/toxin levels in water in order to avoid being forced to spend $$ to fix it. And then there's the issue...the EPA doesn't mandate water utilities test for major hazardous compounds and toxins routinely found in drinking/bathing water...
Smart folks on Wall St know how bad the water situation is in America--that's why they are heavily trading water as a commodity expecting eventual shortages of clean water. discovermagazine.com/environment/ye…
SUPPORT Status Coup's ON-THE-GROUND in Jackson, Flint, and wherever else we can afford to go and cover water crisis across America: StatusCoup.com/Join 
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