Skip to main content
skip

Search form


  • About
    • About
    • Why the Ford School?
    • Legacy of Gerald Ford
    • Diversity commitment
    • Engagement
    • Global Ford School
    • Ford School Committee
    • Jobs
    • Contact us
    • Ford School Centennial
  • Academics
    • Academics
    • Course listing
    • Master's programs
    • Undergraduate program
    • Doctoral program
    • Academic resources
    • STPP Grad Certificate
    • PPIA program
  • Admissions
    • Admissions
    • Tuition and residency
    • Planning your visit
    • Request more information
  • Careers & internships
    • Careers & internships
    • Undergraduates
    • Graduate students
    • Why hire from the Ford School?
    • Policy Grads at work
  • Research & action
    • Research
    • Faculty experts
    • Visiting policymakers
    • Research centers
    • Faculty publications
    • Research publications
  • Student life
    • Student life
    • Student organizations
    • Housing
    • Ann Arbor
  • News & events
    • News & events
    • News
    • Events
    • Publications
    • Video
    • Social media
  • Giving
    • Giving
    • Why give
    • Where to give
    • How to give
  • Prospective Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Employers
  • Policymakers & Press
  • Alumni
    • Alumni
    • Alumni events
    • Stay connected
    • Staebler Award
    • Alumni Board
Ford School Home PageThe Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan
  • Request a room
  • People
  • Intranet

Search form

  • About
    • About
    • Why the Ford School?
    • Legacy of Gerald Ford
    • Diversity commitment
    • Engagement
    • Global Ford School
    • Ford School Committee
    • Jobs
    • Contact us
    • Ford School Centennial
  • Academics
    • Academics
    • Course listing
    • Master's programs
    • Undergraduate program
    • Doctoral program
    • Academic resources
    • STPP Grad Certificate
    • PPIA program
  • Admissions
    • Admissions
    • Tuition and residency
    • Planning your visit
    • Request more information
  • Careers & internships
    • Careers & internships
    • Undergraduates
    • Graduate students
    • Why hire from the Ford School?
    • Policy Grads at work
  • Research & Action
    • Research
    • Faculty experts
    • Visiting policymakers
    • Research centers
    • Faculty publications
    • Research publications
  • Student life
    • Student life
    • Student organizations
    • Housing
    • Ann Arbor
  • News & events
    • News & events
    • News
    • Events
    • Publications
    • Video
    • Connect with us
    • Weiser Diplomacy Launch Series
  • Giving
    • Giving
    • Why give
    • Where to give
    • How to give
  1. Home
  2. News
  3. Moss’s decision to hire ACLU investigative reporter crucial to uncovering Flint water crisis

News


  • Upcoming Events
  • Past Events
  • News
  • Publications
  • Video
  • Social media
  • Upcoming Events
  • Past Events
  • News
  • Publications
  • Video
  • Social media

Moss’s decision to hire ACLU investigative reporter crucial to uncovering Flint water crisis

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

In its report released in late March, the task force appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to investigate the Flint water crisis called the disaster a clear case of "environmental injustice," and a failure of state leadership. Identified as a chief culprit in the crisis was the state’s flawed emergency manager law, which the task force said hindered governmental checks, balances, and accountability.

It was with these very concerns in mind that Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, made a somewhat unprecedented decision. Not long after the most recent emergency manager law was passed in 2012, Moss hired an investigative journalist to look into the actions and decisions made by emergency managers.

“I was concerned about the emergency manager law and the what it meant for democracy, and government transparency, and accountability,” Moss said.

Particularly concerning to her was the fact that at one point, more than half of the state’s African American population was living in cities under emergency managers, according to Moss.

“I wanted to know what decisions were being made and what their impacts were, and knew it would take someone with a special skill set to do so effectively.”

That someone turned out to be veteran investigative journalist Curt Guyette, who ran the news department of the Detroit Metro Times, the largest circulating alternative weekly in the metro Detroit area, for nearly two decades.

Guyette spent most of his first year on staff investigating Detroit public school reforms, but turned his attention to Flint — which had been under emergency control since 2001 — in January 2015 after the ACLU office began receiving calls from concerned residents.

Over the next several months, Guyette began investigating and reporting on Flint’s water for ACLU’s Michigan Democracy Watch Project, even as local and state officials assured residents and the media that everything was under control.

He obtained a leaked EPA memo indicating high levels of lead in Flint, and wondering why the state was saying the water was safe, he evaluated their study. His discovery: That they had dropped a toxic sample and selected samples from Flushing Road, whose pipes had been upgraded.

By September, due in large part to Guyette’s coverage, the Flint water crisis was a growing local story; by early 2016, it gained national prominence.

Guyette and the ACLU of Michigan have been praised for their role in moving the story forward. The Michigan Press Association recently named Guyette the state’s 2015 "Journalist of the Year."

Moss, who recently returned from a national ACLU staff conference where Flint was a main topic of conversation, said that “the fact that we used an investigative journalist was very much on people’s minds.” Several other ACLU offices are following Moss’s lead and are in the process of hiring investigative reporters.

“I think this illustrates that the ACLU has a variety of tools at its disposal,” said Moss. “We file lawsuits [when necessary], but we have other tools for helping protect individuals’ rights and liberties.”

--Story by Paul Gully (MPP '16)

Kary L. Moss is a visiting lecturer at the Ford School. She has served as the executive director of the ACLU of Michigan since 1998.

Share This
Tags: 
Domestic policy, Energy and environment, Ethics, Poverty and social policy, Flint Water Crisis, Kary Moss, ACLU Michigan, emergency financial manager, ACLU investigative reporter, Curt Guyette, inequality, Kary Moss, director of the ACLU of Michigan, executive director, Michigan

Related News

View All
Mar 16, 2019
College admissions scandal reaffirms prevalence of privilege in higher education for Dynarski
Everyone on college campuses across the nation is... more
Apr 18, 2018
Meghan Klaric’s (MPP ’18) “Villanova fans for Flint, MI” fundraiser featured in MLive
Passions were running high at the NCAA championship... more

Related events

View All
Mar
16
Continuing Challenges to Suffrage in Michigan in 2020: Who Still Can’t Vote?
This panel will address the long struggle for women’s right... more
Dec
11
Strategic Public Policy Consulting Student Presentations and Reception
Join Ford School students for their final Strategic Public... more

Related Past Events

View All
Feb
21
Climate Change in the Great Lakes Basin: Policy Options and Public Opinion
Free and open to the public. Panelists: Christopher Borick... more
2011 - 
  • 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Apr
04
About Us Without Us: Decision Making and Activism in Policy
Join the Diversity Student Coalition (DiSC) for the 2016... more
2016 - 
  • 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm

RESOURCES FOR:

  • Prospective Students
  • Current Students
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Employers
  • Policymakers & Press
  • Alumni
UMFS Ford School Link

Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

University of Michigan

735 South State Street | Ann Arbor, MI 48109

P: 734-764-3490 | F: 734-763-9181

Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Flickr
Youtube
Mission & Values
How to Give
**APPAM** **APSIA** **NASPAA** **PPIA**

About

  • About
  • Why the Ford School?
  • Legacy of Gerald Ford
  • Diversity commitment
  • Engagement
  • Global Ford School
  • Ford School Committee
  • Jobs
  • Contact us
  • Ford School Centennial

Academics

  • Academics
  • Course listing
  • Master's programs
  • Undergraduate program
  • Doctoral program
  • Academic resources
  • STPP Grad Certificate
  • PPIA program

Admissions

  • Admissions
  • Tuition and residency
  • Planning your visit
  • Request more information

Careers & internships

  • Careers & internships
  • Undergraduates
  • Graduate students
  • Why hire from the Ford School?
  • Policy Grads at work

Student life

  • Student life
  • Student organizations
  • Housing
  • Ann Arbor

Research & Action

  • Research
  • Faculty experts
  • Visiting policymakers
  • Research centers
  • Faculty publications
  • Research publications

News & events

  • News & events
  • News
  • Events
  • Publications
  • Video
  • Connect with us
  • Weiser Diplomacy Launch Series

Giving

  • Giving
  • Why give
  • Where to give
  • How to give

Alumni

  • Alumni
  • Alumni events
  • Stay connected
  • Staebler Award
  • Alumni Board

Intranet

Ford School Home Page© The Regents of the University of Michigan | Non-discrimination policy | U-M | Webmaster | Sitemap | Contact