To be perfectly honest, I am a bit shocked at how much press this special has gotten after the fact, considering it was really nothing new or groundbreaking in terms of covering the city’s continuing decay and despair.  But then again, I suppose that is the very reason that there have been so many in the media, at least around Metro Detroit, that have been quick to argue the Dateline special cast Detroit in too negative of a light.

Well, with all do respect, while I do realize there are many bright spots that can be covered and positive stories that should be told about the rebirth of the city, I can’t help but think about the fact that the bad still outweighs the good here.  There is still more blight than there is actual progress being made.  There are still more vacant plots of land than there are developed.  There are still more unemployed people in Detroit than in any other major metropolitan city in the country.  Quite frankly it seems to me like once again we are taking the comfortably jaded approach of crying ‘woe is me’ and playing the poor victim like we have done so well for so long.

But its time to stop whining!  Stop complaining about the fact that a reporter from a big bad news organization came back to his hometown and did a, shall we say, less than stellar job of covering his city.  Yes, HIS city in which he covered the way HE saw it, not the way he wanted others to see it.  The fact is that we had to endure yet another low blow in front of the national spotlight and we didn’t like how we were presented to everybody else.  Well then, lets get back up, shrug it off and tough it out.  Why?  Because that’s what Detroiters do, we endure, we never back down and we never lose hope.  Sure the rest of the country saw an unfavorable side of Detroit but it was a Detroit that, nonetheless, still very much exists and needs to be addressed before any real progress can take place, in my own humble opinion.

Frankly I think we’re giving way to much credit to a low-rated, past-it’s-prime, 90’s-esque TV news magazine program than we should be.  I think Rochelle Riley of the Detroit Free Press summed it up best when she said, “Detroit is drowning, but doesn’t want the country to know.”  Which begs the question why is it that we continue on with this mentality of feeling the need to hide our “dirty laundry” from the rest of the country?  The rest of America needs to be a witness to what has happened in this town.

So, am I way off here, or what?

A link to Rochelle Riley Free Press Editorial:

http://www.freep.com/article/20100422/COL10/4220429/1164/Dateline-story-a-call-to-action