By BRIAN COLDING, Solutions News Bureau
Despite environmental issues such as air pollution, illegal dumping, and water pollution plaguing Detroit for years, they haven’t always been front-page news. Lack of coverage of such problems isn’t unusual. “Climate silence reigns” in the U.S. news media, according to Columbia Journalism Review, and according to Media Matters for America, in 2019, global warming accounted for less than 1 percent of overall news coverage.
That’s why Planet Detroit exists. Focused on environmental news and information, the news organization’s goal is to keep local communities engaged with what’s happening environmentally through investigative reporting.
“I started Planet Detroit because I didn’t see anything like it in the local media,” says Nina Ignaczak, who founded the site in 2019. “I felt that there were a lot of stories going underreported, especially in respect to environmental justice issues.”
Ignaczak, a former environmental planner for Detroit, found that climate and environmental issues were underreported especially in communities of color.
Martina Guzman, board chair for Planet Detroit, encouraged Ignaczak’s idea and continues to support the organization. She says the site – funded primarily by sponsors and grants – has had a positive trajectory and is growing.
“I mostly work with Nina to fundraise,” Guzman says. “Media platforms need a lot of funding to pay writers and photographers and editors. I work with her as much as I can to raise money.”
The organization operates with multiple freelance journalists who have interests in environmental news. Many of the writers are people of color interconnected with the communities they report on.
Former staff member Jena Brooker spent a year working for Planet Detroit as an environmental journalist.
“I focused on environmental justice, food, and agriculture,” Brooker says. “One of my favorite stories that I wrote for Planet Detroit is about how air pollution affects students in Detroit.”
Brooker, who says she got involved with the news org because of her passion for environmental science, also covered stories about air pollution, apartment complex recycling, and cleaning up the environment.
Local residents in the surrounding area are also beginning to take notice of Planet Detroit.
Christophe Brown, a student at Wayne State University and longtime resident, says he recently found out about the outlet through friends, and appreciates what they have done in the city.
“I like that their news focuses on more important stuff surrounding Detroit’s ecological health,” Brown says.
One of the biggest challenges Planet Detroit has faced is community outreach. Both Ignaczak and Guzman note increases in popularity, but there are still concerns about reaching targeted demographics. A lot of effort has been put into connecting with local communities.
“Our big limitation is being able to meaningfully engage the audience we’re most interested in benefitting because of the digital divide,” Ignaczak says. “I think media, in general, has a history of being white-dominated and there’s a level of distrust in communities of color.”
Planet Detroit has also faced problems with funding and resources.
“I think the greatest challenge is raising money for the longevity of the platform,” Guzman says. “Planet Detroit doesn’t want to be a media outlet that’s around for three to five years and then it’s gone because of a lack of funding.”
Even with the challenges surrounding funding, Planet Detroit is still growing significantly in terms of size and outreach. The team behind Planet Detroit continues to work on building up the organization and delivering news to residents.
“I think that when people say, ‘do you see a difference?” Guzman says. “This kind of work isn’t the kind of work that has an overnight impact, it’s long-term work.”
A few questions for Nina Ignaczak, founder of Planet Detroit
Q: Do you think it was an accident that environmental news was going on just seemingly underreported? Do you think there’s any potential correlation between that and big factories and other such things around these parts?
A: There’s definitely an effort on the part of some industries to suppress and downplay information about environmental pollution. There are also kind of proactive efforts on the part of, for example, DTE Energy to kind of greenwash what they’re doing in terms of the environment, and also campaigns to try to promote their interests. So like, media campaigns, there’s definitely a PR machine at work on the pro-industrial side for sure.
Q: Do you ever hear from them or receive any backlash for reporting on environmental problems?
A: Occasionally, we’ve heard from DTE Energy disputing things that we’ve recorded or trying to point out a different take. You know, trying to promote their spin on things. But for the most part no, because what we do is factual and we are reporting information that can be substantiated. Also, we’re small so I think we go under the radar.
Q: What is Planet Detroit’s target audience? Who does Planet Detroit aim to benefit?
A: Our goal is to benefit vulnerable communities. So, communities of color, low-income communities who are on the frontlines being exposed to pollution or inadequate health care, those kinds of things. But in reality, those communities can be hard to reach with digital media and I know that we’re not reaching them as much as we want to and could be. Our readers tend to be people who are interested in the environment, have a history of activism, or are interested in social justice issues, but are not necessarily always the same people who are primarily affected by them? So that’s definitely something it’s a limitation that we need to address.
Q: How did the pandemic affect everything?
A: You know, I think it’s hard to say how things would have been different if the pandemic hadn’t happened. We grew during the pandemic. We launched six months before the pandemic started essentially, and I was already accustomed to working remotely and virtually. I think that people turned to the internet during the pandemic, so that may have even helped us because we’re an online publication, but I don’t know. So much of journalism and media, especially since the pandemic, is being done remotely. I think we were in a good position to not be harmed by the pandemic. As far as financial issues, I know people were strapped for cash and maybe fewer members joined because of the pandemic. But that said we’ve gained more than 300k members since starting, which is a number I’m proud of and a number that needs to grow. So I guess you don’t really see what the economy does but I think with all of the federal intervention during the pandemic, people didn’t suffer as much as they could have. I think we probably didn’t suffer as much as we could have either.
– Brian Colding