Susan J. Demas: Journalism Is A Public Service. The Advance Is Honored To Tell Michigan's Stories.

Michigan Advance

March 20, 2022

As a parent, you’re forever worrying that you’re not doing things right and your kids will pay the price (especially if you happen to be a chronic overthinker). It’s not dissimilar to how I’ve felt running two publications, first revamping Inside Michigan Politics and bringing it into the 21st century and then building the Michigan Advance from the ground up three years ago.

I will pause to note that parenting is, and always will be, more important than any job and that’s not a cliché for me.

But with two adult children — our youngest is ready to graduate from high school — I suppose some would say that my job is just about done. I would argue, though, that your job is never done as a parent. You have to let your relationships evolve as your kids mature, figure themselves out and pick their path. And if the pandemic hasn’t shown us all to hold tight those we love most, then we haven’t really learned anything at all.

Of course, you can’t really take a more hands-off approach as a publication starts to mature, since the news and our industry are constantly changing. You can’t rest on your laurels, or even take a break, although I’m insanely proud that the Advance has won almost 60 awards since 2019. Most recently, we learned this week we won 18 more honors, including taking first for the Michigan Press Association’s 2021 Public Service Award for our COVID coverage and third place for the special topic of social justice and policing. And it’s humbling to have been named best columnist three years in a row.

I believe what we do at the Advance is a public service, but there’s often not time to reflect. You never want to miss a good story, you want to help develop a new generation’s talent and you want to keep trying to break new ground. Rudderless operations can’t do that. And most of all, readers don’t deserve for editors to phone it in.

That’s not really in my DNA. As a naturally competitive person, I learned the benefits of starting out in a two-newspaper town in the early aughts in Iowa (when that was becoming rarer in major cities) because going head-to-head on stories made us all better and the readers ultimately won. I’m also just slightly stubborn, which has undoubtedly helped me climb more than 70 mountains, despite being chronically clumsy (hey, we all decompress in different ways).

In my more than 20 years in journalism, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes and tried to learn from them. I’ve seen what works in news outlets and what doesn’t. I’ve watched some of the most gifted reporters I knew be driven out due to low pay and institutional racism, sexism, homophobia and more.

When I was first approached by States Newsroom to start the (still-unnamed) nonprofit Michigan Advance in 2018, I was frustrated with traditional media and thought I was done with journalism. After years of catering coverage to lawmakers, lobbyists and CEOs as a political journalist, I wanted to tell the stories of people who are impacted by decisions made by those in power, but too often are ignored — particularly BIPOC, women, LGBTQs, low-income people and immigrants. It seemed like a pipe dream to lead a publication that could do this with zero editorial interference.

But that’s what we’re able to do every day at the Michigan Advance. That’s what has made our coverage stand out, whether it’s the 2020 election (which still isn’t over, thanks to endless conspiracy theories), police brutality and racism, and the COVID-19 pandemic (which also isn’t over, despite political talking points and everyone’s exhaustion). I think it’s even more remarkable because we have a small team of five dedicated journalists — not a roster of a dozen or more — and we still report on the biggest issues facing our big, beautiful state. It’s humbling to be recognized by our peers for our efforts.

Over the years, I’ve learned that being a parent means being able to listen, be flexible and perpetually deal with unforeseen problems. At the Advance, we’ve also taken that approach, especially with the pandemic that’s stretched much longer than any of us expected. We’ve figured out how to work in new ways, always keeping in mind what Michiganders are going through, because they remain at the heart of our work.

The best thing about journalism is that you’re constantly learning something new. We’ll continue to learn at the Advance, and undoubtedly makes some mistakes as we strive to tell stories that matter for our readers. We depend on readers to tell us what we should be covering and what we can do better. And we so appreciate your support of our nonprofit newsroom.

Thank you for being with us on this journey for the last three years. We know we are privileged to tell the stories we do and we’ll always try to do them justice.

The Michigan Advance, a hard-hitting, nonprofit news site, covers politics and policy across the state of Michigan through in-depth stories, blog posts, and social media updates, as well as top-notch progressive commentary. The Advance is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers.