Hey guys!
We haven’t met yet. I’m Jasmine — “Jazz,” if we’re cool like that — coming to you live as BridgeDetroit’s newest reporter, covering city government and taking over the City Council Notebook newsletter.
The first thing you need to know about me is that I come from a long line of people the news tends to leave behind.
Growing up as a Black woman in rural South Dakota, non-local news, frankly, sucked when it came to covering my communities. I didn’t see enough news by and for people who looked like me or those I cared about. What I did see was too often rooted in struggle and strife to be truly reflective of anybody.
I wanted the journalism to be better. So, I decided to give it a go myself.
I rolled up my sleeves as early as high school, but got my “real” start in Fall 2019 in Minneapolis. I started as the first national headlines reporter at the Minnesota Daily, where I cut my teeth in the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, through the murder of George Floyd and subsequent summer of protests — and the supposed (read: failed) “reckoning” in and outside of journalism during this time. I also did stints as a freelancer and intern at various outlets around the city.
In early 2023, I became tired of tilting at windmills and waiting for journalism to be fixed by content advisory boards and meaning well. Instead, I took a slight off-ramp into grad school, continuing a research journey I started a year earlier with The LIFT Project, a research organization founded by Dr. Danielle K. Brown. There, I dived into research and multimedia work under the guidance of my powerhouse mentors, Dr. Brown and Prof. Jarrad Henderson (a former Detroit Free Press photographer). Since then, I’ve been nerding out about videography, theory and the practices and policies that make the best journalism what it is.
I’ve also spent the last two years working on a multimedia reporting project for my master’s degree that seeks to honor and support mothers of victims of police violence in Michigan. (More on that later!)
So what am I doing in Detroit?
You’d be right to notice a thru-line of reporting on institutional accountability, inequity, systemic violence and social movements in my reporting. I will bring that passion, my nerd credentials and the many skills I’ve picked up along the path to BridgeDetroit. Most importantly, I intend to do work that honors Detroit and Detroiters, reporting with and for you, rather than just about you. Reporting on city government issues will have me occasionally writing about contentious issues, so while I hope to be able to celebrate with you often, I know I’ll be spending a lot of time getting my hands dirty.
I have no intention of joining the many outsiders who helicopter in to write about the mess, and then put my pen away after it’s been cleaned up. I don’t plan to just file stories from the back of council meetings or from the comfort of my apartment; I want to make sure I’m getting into communities and seeing what it means to live under the policies I’m reporting on.
I’m on record saying that I believe journalism is about being nosy and the research supports showing up with love. At my core, I believe storytelling is how we survive. It’s how we’ve been connecting with each other since before we left the caves, and it’ll be the thing that outlasts us long after we’re gone. But I believe Detroiters deserve more than just survival; I believe in living well.
But let’s keep it a buck: I’m new, I’m young and I’m going to make mistakes. When that happens, I hope you’ll let me know and trust me to try again.
In the meantime, I’m a born homebody looking to spread my wings and settle into my new home of Detroit. I love reading and writing, knitting and crocheting, listening to old (old) music and watching movies. Help me get out of my apartment! If you have any recommendations for places I should go or things I should know, please don’t be afraid to hit me up on social media or at jsnow@bridgedetroit.com.
I can’t do this without you. So, you tell me:
What’s next?
Read more: Center for Michigan adds BridgeDetroit reporter, membership specialist
