GRIID end of the year in Review: Part I – Monitoring the local news media

I posted 53 different stories that critiqued the local daily commercial news media in 2024. The four news agencies I monitor regularly are MLive, WOODTV8, WZZM 13 and WXMI 17. 

Some of those 53 posts were one-off pieces that looked at things like the Tesla mining project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where the MLive article failed to provide adequate contextual information or explore the ecological and social implications of the mine.

Other one-off examples would be how WXMI 17 reported on the 50th anniversary of when Gerald R. Ford became President, how WZZM 13 failed to address how many people are struggling with the cost of rent in Kent County, how WOODTV8 only talked to the GR Chamber of Commerce on recent court decisions regarding minimum wages, or the example of how MLive failed to question the State of Michigan giving a $100 million tax exemption to the Chevron Corporation.

However, the bulk of the critique that GRIID provided on local news reporting centered primarily on the themes of the 2024 election, the GRPD and how the local news primarily acted as stenographers to the Grand Rapids Power Structure.

Local Election Coverage for 2024 

MLive introduces the Grand Rapids 1st Ward Candidates, but doesn’t challenge or question any of their responses from a candidate survey 

MLive coverage of the Grand Rapids 3rd Ward Candidates gives the public vague answers to vague questions 

WZZM 13 provides a platform for the Destination Kent Committee to claim misinformation regarding August 6th Hotel Tax vote billboard

ArtPrize vs Local Election coverage in the Grand Rapids media market 

Daily Grand Rapids News agencies fail the public miserably when it comes to reporting on local candidates 

Local News Coverage on the GRPD for 2024 

In an upcoming GRIID report, I documented that in the 673 crime related stories in the 4 local daily commercial media outlets, the GRPD were the primary source in 628 of those stories. 

Here are some examples of how relying on the GRPD protects the GRPD from greater public scrutiny. 

City of Grand Rapids justifies the trauma inflicted in Honestie Hodges case, while news media fail to provided any analysis of the GRPD’s Youth Interactions policy 

GRPD Chief Winstrom exploits the memory of Breonna Taylor, while his department continues to harass, monitor and repress activists challenging policing in Grand Rapids

Local commercial news coverage of the 2nd anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s murder and the organized events by grassroots activists 

GRPD Chief Winstrom just lied to a reporter from MLive 

GRPD Chief Winstrom engages in a little Copaganda and the local news media never questions it 

A weekend of copaganda in Grand Rapids: When GRPD expansion fits into the plans of the GR Power Structure 

Not only should we question the GRPD’s role in the death of Cortez McConer Jr, we should not allow Chief Winstrom to control the public narrative 

Corporate Crime vs Street Crime: How Grand Rapids news distorts and racializes crime 

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker determined that the GRPD was justified in shooting an unarmed Black man 7 times 

Local News acts as stenographers to GR Power Structure

The amount of local news coverage regarding how the Grand Rapids Power Structure functions in this city, once again demonstrates how local news primarily acts as stenographers to those with power. There are too many to list here, so let me just highlight some of the more egregious examples. 

Power Dynamics, community engagement and the Grand Action Soccer Stadium proposal 

Grand Action 2.0 is now pitching apartment high rises to be adjacent to the Amphitheater and Soccer Stadium, with lots of tax incentives for struggling developers

MLive’s Amphitheater coverage is a disgusting display of Neo-Liberal Journalism 

Billionaire families announce new development project in GR, wants $544 million in public funding 

Stenographers to power: When an Amway Press Release is used as “news” 

More than 4 things to know about the DeVos and Van Andel development project, since MLive is too cowardly to question the co-founding Amway families 

The new downtown GR Soccer Stadium will be named the Amway Stadium, which should surprise no one who has been paying attention 

MLive omits the most substantial organized effort to oppose the DeVos/Van Andel development project, which received $565 million in tax breaks from GR City officials 

What the DeVos/Van Andel ownership of the soccer team means for Grand Rapids 

In Part II of the GRIID Year in Review, I will look at my reporting on the Far Right in West Michigan.