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Susan Demas: "Corporate media aren't cutting it."
Susan Demas, a veteran political columnist, is launching a nonprofit news site, Michigan Advance, that will cover state politics and policy and feature "insightful progressive commentary."
The venture, launching Tuesday from downtown Lansing, is described in a release as "hard-hitting." Ken Coleman of Detroit is a full-time reporter.
It's part of a six-state network backed by an activist charity in Washington, D.C. " Corporate media aren't cutting it," says the Michigan site's first tweet.
"The Advance will be a news source unlike any other in Michigan and tell stories that others don’t, " Demas, editor-in-chief, says in her handout. "Political and policy stories are often written solely for people at the top: politicians, insiders and corporate leaders. There’s no shortage of horse race coverage, access journalism and gossipy roundups of campaign intrigue.
"Journalists at the Advance don’t view politics as an amusing game. We talk to people whose problems are being ignored by our leaders. We understand that decisions made at every level of government, big and small, have a profound impact on people’s lives. And we don’t believe that reporting on policy has to be boring.”
Guest columns and freelance article will be part of the mix.
Demas' poitical journalism career began in in 2001 at the Cedar Rapids Gazette in Iowa and includes work at the Jackson Citizen Patriot, Battle Creek Enquirer, MLive and the Michigan Information and Research Service. She was editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, a newsletter, from 2013-18.
The startup is part of a national group financed by donors through the Hopewell Fund, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that supports "social change projects." It backs similar news sites in North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Virginia.
The release adds:
The Advance is free of advertising and free to readers. It is part of a national effort — The Newsroom — to fill the void caused by corporate news operations cutting their state capitol bureaus. The site will feature in-depth news stories, a blog, guest columns and social media updates. We will have a free, daily newsletter, “Advance at a Glance.”
► Sign up for a daily Advance at a Glance news digest.
