Local commercial news agencies prioritizes stories about new billionaire-owned soccer team name over how immigrant families are being terrorized by ICE

As I reported recently, Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE held a public forum on Saturday to provide opportunity for people to hear the stories of immigrant families who have been affected by the terrorizing actions of ICE in Kent County.

As I noted in the article from Saturday’s community forum, a Guatemala man was arrested by ICE agents just days ago leaving behind his wife and five young children with no source of income. While GR Rapid Response to ICE has been raising funds and connecting them to resources, these children may never see their father again. This is what family separation looks like.

Unfortunately, ICE repression that targets immigrant families doesn’t get reported on much. Of the four daily commercial news outlets in Grand Rapids, only WOODTV8 reported on the Cosecha forum. However, the story was limited in scope and gave more air time to a Grand Rapids City Commissioner than an immigrant and organizer with Cosecha.

Comparatively, all four daily commercial news outlets in Grand Rapids reported on the name reveal for the new professional soccer team owned jointly by the billionaire DeVos and Van Andel families. In standard fashion of anything as trivial as the name of a soccer team, MLive ran the headline, New Grand Rapids MLS NEXT pro soccer team reveals official name, logo and colors.

The three Grand Rapids-based TV stations also reported on the name reveal of the professional soccer team co-owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families. The TV coverage of the soccer team name reveal was even more outrageous and relied exclusively on the talking points provided in the Media Release. WOODTV8’s story included footage of the name reveal event that took place on Calder Plaza, while WZZM 13 and WXMI 17 just posted digital renderings of what the Amway soccer stadium will look like.

Of course the billionaire families of DeVos and Van Andel don’t need to just rely on the local commercials news agencies. In fact, these families would rather utilize their own media to promote their own interests. GR& Riverfront posted their own story about the name reveal of the professional soccer team co-owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families. One quote in particular stood out to me, a quote from David Van Andel – Chairman, CEO & Co-owner of AC Grand Rapids – who said:

“AC Grand Rapids isn’t just a logo or a jersey. It’s a symbol of who we are and what we’re building together here in West Michigan.”

Now, the GR& Riverfront article did not explore the significance of this quote from Van Andel, since it is clearly implied that what the billionaire DeVos and Van Andel families have built in West Michigan. One could easily argue that they have built whatever they have wanted to over the decades, often using millions in public dollars at the same time, then keeping all the profits for themselves as they continue to expand the assets they have in Grand Rapids – sports teams, venues, hotels, restaurants, athletic facilities, along with having politicians and a whole range of organizations in their pockets. For reference, see my 850 page DeVos Family Reader document.

It’s a beautiful thing to see the local news media be subservient to the interests of the families that own this city, plus reporting on the repression of immigrant families by federal government agencies just doesn’t create a good consuming environment, which is the real function of news media within our Capitalist system.