Image Improvement from the Bottom Up
November 13, 2005
The New York Times Op-Ed section took on the 2005 Detroit Mayoral election today.
Here’s a clip:
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…Mr. Kilpatrick - “America’s first hip-hop mayor,” a sobriquet he once seemed to relish and now wishes to shed - finds himself in the position of Michael Corleone, sitting on that park bench at the end of “Godfather II”: in control, after something of a scare, contemplating how to pick up the pieces…
..He may not deserve an award, but with the auto-parts maker Delphi bankrupt, the credit rating at G.M. and Ford junk, and Michigan having the country’s highest rate of joblessness, he deserves to at least be graded on a curve…
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Sadly, this is arguably one of the most upbeat articles about Detroit politics written over the past 3 years. It’s no secret that most of the country has a negative view of the city. What’s sad is that there is little national [and to some extent local] coverage of positive things happening in Detroit. Often in news coverage we see nationally syndicated stories about positive local events in othe major cities (e.g. New York, Seattle, etc.), but seldom about Detroit.
How do we combat this? There are many approaches, but the one I suggest requires a three-tier model of all of the stakeholders:
Tier 1: citizens of Detroit
Tier 2: local Detroit media
Tier 3: national media and the US populace at large
How it works is that the actions of the “lower” tiers will essentially require responsive actions from the ones above it.
The citizens of Detroit who are interested in its future will continue their great work throughout the city. Examples of tier 1 efforts are Think Detroit and New Detroit among others. Much of the work of these groups and their peer organizations goes unnoticed due to lack of attention. This attention can be garnered through strategic alliances with each other, as well as with City government and local media. We always complain about how the media portrays Detroit, about how it portrays black people. This is a strugle that will be fought and won by organizing our message and pushing it to a point where it can no longer be ignored. I call on organizations to present themselves as partners with local government. The different city departments could each sponsor a team in each of Think Detroit’s sports leagues. Working together, they can bombard tier 2 with positive information. The interesting piece here is that for t!
his to be successful, tier 1 must SUPPORT tier 2. The way we influence the media is by how we consume it. I propose that instead of a boycott approach to changing the media, we go on the offensive: give them better news and follow up until that better news is what’s on display.
The same logic applies to tier 2-tier 3 dynamics. This bottom up approach in my opinion is much more effective than lobbying some disinterested national media syndicate to change their story. That top down method will fail because it makes the improper assumption that the top even cares. You don’t put the roof on first. That’s the final piece of the Puzzle.
The 20 something generation is tired of the top down ideology. It worked before, but I and my peers have doubts about its effectiveness going forward. However, by creating a solid foundation of positive action, we can achieve our goals: a better community, a better image of that community.
What better place is there to use this approach than Detroit.
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GDGII
Sent via wireless handheld
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