University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student journalists will be spending their spring break on a road trip to Flint, MI Friday, March 24 with their instructors to investigate the ongoing water crisis the city has been facing since April of 2014.
Instructors Jessie Garcia and Jessica McBride will be working alongside eighteen students in Flint. This is the second investigative trip led by Garcia and McBride this school year. In November 2016, student journalists traveled to rural Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, just weeks after the 2016 elections. They investigated counties that unexpectedly swung the most heavily from Barack Obama in 2012 to Donald Trump. They published “How the Mississippi River Valley Turned Red” on Media Milwaukee.
Since winning awards for their work, they waited for the next opportunity to rise.
“A student, Sabrina Johnkins, suggested the idea,” said Garcia, journalism lecturer who specializes in broadcast. “We had a successful road trip experience last semester and it was such an immersing, interesting trip that we wanted to do it again.”
“I knew there was a story here,” said Johnkins. “Despite the fact that Flint received national media coverage for months, nothing changed. I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to get real world journalism experience, while sharing the stories of the forgotten people of Flint.”
Flint’s water supply faced serious threats in 2011 when the state switched its supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality abandoned treatment to the corrosive water, which resulted in exposing over 100,000 residents to high levels of lead in drinking water. Residents have been complaining the water is brown, smells, and tastes bad. Many have fallen sick and the water is the main suspect in ten deaths. Today, the water is still undrinkable and residents use lead-filters and bottled water. Residents are still waiting for the lead pipes to be replaced, which is estimated to be no sooner than 2019.
“This is a continuation of our efforts to give journalism students
multimedia immersion experiences revolving around national stories with great public impact,” said McBride, senior journalism lecturer. “So many students volunteered to go to Flint, Michigan over their spring break week demonstrates again the determination and passion our students have for journalism that matters, and the public’s right to know.”
Students will be involved in a variety of responsibilities on the trip. They will decide what their focus will be: broadcast, print/online, radio, photography, or building a social media presence, such as publishing on a live blog. The multiple styles of reporting will aggregate students into teams and they will stick together to work on their primary preference. Ultimately, all the work will be combined into one website.
Students are responsible for driving themselves the six hour trip, splitting gas costs, and paying for or providing their own food. However, hotel costs are paid for by the JAMS (journalism, advertising, and media studies) department at UWM. The hotel the group is staying at will be distributing bottled water for drinking and bathing. They hope to interview the manager hotel, as well as tell the story of what it is like staying in a hotel where you might not feel comfortable brushing your teeth or showering with the tap water.
“The last trip was awesome because it was the first time getting hands on experience in the world of journalism,” said senior student journalist Brandon Anderegg. “There is something special about connecting with people and having a real conversation about a pressing matter. I think that Flint will be an even better experience, because I am given the opportunity to give a voice to those who have clearly been forgotten.”
The trip doesn’t only allow students to demonstrate and build their skills, but bring awareness to the ongoing problems in Flint. They are fixated on showcasing what it is like to live in an American city that has issues with drinking the water, years after the issue was first discovered. With no set plans, the group will be diving into the city with their boots on the ground.
“We may have one or two interviews ahead of time but most of it is going to be just go,” said Garcia. “See what you see, walk into bars, walk into restaurants, knock on people’s doors, talk to people in parks, wherever they are that day. That is how you will find your story.”
The group wants to tell the stories of the average, everyday Americans. They also want to try to interview elected officials and possibly the mayor.
“The best stories come from real human beings,” said Garcia. “We want to be in somebody’s home where they show us their water and tell us what they have to do on a daily basis in order to cook or wash dishes or take a shower.”
“You can learn a lot in a classroom,” said McBride. “But there’s no substitute for going out and knocking on people’s doors and going into their homes and places of businesses to interview them.”
The students and instructors will be returning Sunday, March 26. The complete investigation is expected to be published on Media Milwaukee in April.