Earlier this month, CBS 60 Minutes ran a piece on Detroit called “Detroit on the Edge.” After watching the 13 minute segment I was left very unsettled. I had high hopes that this segment would show a different side of Detroit’s story, but instead I was left with the same negative story that has been repeated for years. The beginning of the segment told the well-known story of Detroit’s decline and  offered visuals of blight and abandoned buildings to accompany the voice over. In the second part of the segment, the journalists make a half-hearted attempt to show the positive things happening in Detroit. They focus on downtown Detroit and Dan Gilbert’s growing real estate, but there is still an underlying negative and skeptic tone throughout the piece. I feel like I have seen this news piece a hundred times, but now that I am actually living in the city and witnessing the changes happening around me this old story does not sit well with me.

There is no denying that Detroit still has many problems. There is still blight, crime and even many burnt out street lights, and that story is very easy for a journalist to capture. The images of abandoned houses and stories of delayed police response featured in the 60 Minutes segment were real, but that is not the full story of Detroit. If the journalists of 60 Minutes wanted to produce a fresh new story they could have focused less on the story told by every news outlet, and focus more of its attention on not only the business growth of Detroit, but the growing number of young, college educated adults living in the city, the urban farming movement throughout the city, and the countless organizations working to improve their individual communities. There are a number of community organizations that people outside of the city, and even some inside the city, have no idea exist, but are working extremely hard to change the overplayed, negative story of Detroit.

Community Garden – Brightmoor – Photo Credit Fares Ksebati

And that’s just it – Detroit’s new story is still evolving. We shouldn’t leave it up to those only interested in the same old story to cover Detroit’s transformation. It’s up to the people living and working in the city every day to tell the real story. As a fellow of Challenge Detroit, I feel part of my responsibility is to highlight the new and constantly evolving story of this city. I don’t think we should sugarcoat Detroit, as I stated earlier there are still negatives we need to work on, but there is so much good about this city that needs to be equally covered. I hope through the course of this year I can share the new story of Detroit with those I encounter in person and through various digital platforms.

–Meagen