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Time Puts Bow Atop their Assignment Detroit Project with Econ Club Panel
date: November 11, 2010
SOURCE:MLive.com
In so many words, Time Magazine declared “Mission Accomplished” as they wrapped up their Assignment Detroit project with a panel discussion at the Masonic Temple hosted by the Detroit Economic Club.
Time’s
Editor-in-Chief John Huey, Deputy International Editor Bobby Ghosh, and
Detroit bureau chief Steven Gray discussed their reflections on the
yearlong project and took questions from an audience that included
notables like DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb and City
Councilman Gary Brown.
Headquartered in a West Village house,
Assignment Detroit produced roughly 300 print or online stories, 48
video reports, and over 750 blog posts.
Gray, who was the only
reporter to live in Detroit for the entire year, discussed the pluses
and minuses of living in a city that seems to have lately captured the
imagination of national media. He said, if the project had been
extended, he would have opted to remain in Detroit.
But Gray was
also quick to point out the dysfunction many Detroiters have come to
accept as normal. He said he was surprised and unnerved that West
Village needed to contract for private security patrols.
“I find that extremely unacceptable,” Gray said.
All
three men spoke about the metro region’s paternalism. Ghosh, who has
worked around the world, was quick to shoot down the notion that Detroit
is a third world city in the midst of a first world nation. However, he
said Detroit lacks the kind of population “churn” that creates a
dynamic energy in other great cities. Subjective validation, perhaps,
that Jane Jacobs’ notions of urbanism continue to fall on deaf ears in Detroit.
In
the end, the group was adamant that Assignment Detroit lived up to
their expectations and they are pleased with the work produced by Time
reporters. When asked, Huey said he has no hindsight regrets about the
project’s execution.
Time is selling their West Village house and
will donate the proceeds to local charities. Huey said the magazine has
no plans to repeat the project elsewhere in the near future.
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