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Woo, woo, woo, Michael Jackman -- a city turns its hopeful ears to you.
The Metro Times managing editor will tell NPR listeners why Detroit deserves respect, not tiresome disses from writers recycling tired tropes.
Hey, hey, hey.
Jackman, who joined the weekly in 2002, was interviewed Thursday by "Weekend Edition Saturday" host Scott Simon. The 45-year-old journalist explained why "rhetorical devices like 'putting Detroit on the map' . . . alienate and belittle longtime Detroiters," according to a post by colleague Le DeVito.
The taped phone interview, to be broadcast by WDET and more than 900 other public radio stations between 8-10 a.m. this Saturday, follows a blog post this week by Jackman on lazy, reflexive journalism about Detroit. It slaps BuzzFeed for this Oct. 2 headline: 12 Business That Are Putting Detroit on the Map. Here's part of his callout:
It [the head] shows disrespect to the people who deserve the highest honors for toughing it out when times were bad. It disregards the histories and legacies of all the Detroiters who came before.
What's more, Detroit's been on the map since 1701, longer than Albuquerque, New Orleans, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, Cincinnati and dozens of other major American cities.
To avoid seeming "arrogant and ignorant," Jackman suggests, journalists writing from afar or visiting briefly should "avoid any and all references to Detroit as a 'frontier' where 'urban settlers' found a 'colony' amid its barrenness."
Avoid any and all references to a "blank canvas" or a "tabula rasa." It's a city full of stories, one that has a functioning identity and plenty of pride.
As part of his vigilant cliche patrol, Jackman last Friday rebuked Ann Arbor freelancer Jennifer Conlin for writing in The New York Times travel section that Detroit was "considered a food desert not so long ago."
During the NPR interview, DeVito relays, "Simon teased our resident firebrand a bit for being so defensive about the way Detroit is covered."
