As a journalist, I am unique in that I’ve spent the greater part of the last 14 years traveling the US running my environmental investigation firm, ToxicWasteSites.org. My .org worked to expose cancer clusters, the redevelopment of still polluted toxic waste sites, we investigated and exposed corruption in local, state, and fed governments, and we were involved in many household name scandals.
From the Warren County, Virginia $21 million embezzlement scheme to the Flint Water Crisis, I was there. I was working on these issues years before they erupted publicly, leading one citizen to say, “This guy is lightyears ahead of everyone else.” Over the years, I started to gain what I would call a general’s perspective on the US environmental debate and the state of US media, local and national.
More often than not, as I would uncover corruption scandal after corruption scandal, it was local and national media that covered it up, essentially making themselves conspirators in the incidents. Local media outlets wouldn’t tell big stories and national media outlets didn’t have an interest until someone or many people were dead. I learned, across thousands of cities of travel that the sole biggest enemy I had was media.
No matter what subject I would work on, when it came to local media, it would be suppressed, overlooked, or misreported upon. The reasons for this came down to a few common factors; the media outlet was owned by a corporate entity which had decimated investigative journalism budgets, they’d hired less than skilled or courageous talent, or there were personal relationships between the news source and parties I was exposing. These three things popped up over and over again, as I’d move from city to city.
At some point in my travels, I began looking at the structure of local media outlets, small-town rags, small newspapers, and local TV news. Over time, I started to see the flaws in the system. I’d learned that most small-town newspapers had been gobbled up by corporations. What would appear to be a humble newsroom was actually owned by large parent companies. In the interest of profits over journalism, investigative journalism slowly died, newsroom staff was reduced, weak and ineffective individuals were promoted to the top of the food chain, as journalism was slowly choked to death by greed.
The larger newspapers, like New York Times, LA Times, and others, wouldn’t care about a developing scandal happening in a small town. Attempting to approaching local TV news stations would result in someone having a fit and bragging that they have 200 regional Emmys (I generally avoid them at all costs because they are the worst of the worst). National media outlets were too busy reporting on Taylor Swift or obsessing over Elon Musk to write back.
Over the decades as investigative journalism was decimated, corruption began to rise. There are 19,400 cities, towns, and villages in the US. In each one, there is some form of corruption occurring, in the city council, and the police, as there is no one to hold them accountable. With no watchdogs, our corruption issues in the US have exponentially compounded. Officials and leaders learned that they can ignore public outcry and get away with anything they want.
In terms of my activism career, this was an utter nightmare that resulted in 99% of my prolific career being buried. The theory is that false news can be corrected but news that hasn’t been reported on erases history and cannot be fixed. Eventually, I had to find a solution to the suppression. We the people needed a better way because after thousands of cities, I realized that the biggest problem with no solution that America faces is bad media. There’s no accountability, no oversight, and an all-encompassing narcissism that leads the leaders in journalism to not be able to admit there is a problem.
Five years ago, my solution was simple. Why not start a portable small-town newspaper operating under one brand but with editions that were specific to each city, town, or village? Not only would this meet the need of small to medium-sized cities that have all but been forgotten by the big newspapers, but it would allow for a single nationally recognized brand dedicated to investigative journalism, that could fill the gap left by corporate media.
In 2018, we opened our first newsroom, in St. Joseph, Missouri, and were immediately pounced on by local officials, police, and shockingly, other media outlets. Within a week of opening, the FBI was in our office asking questions. We were a world card, operating outside the boundaries of the existing system. This newspaper was torn apart, slathered with frivolous lawsuits, to the point that when I started it, I was a self-made millionaire, to a year later, left living in utter poverty. I guess my mistake back then was not hiring a lawyer and a misplaced sense of idealism that we’d be allowed to engage in First Amendment-protected activity without fear of criminal retaliation.
It’s now a half a decade later, I’ve won all the court battles, resulting in this small little operation becoming a quite scrappy opponent, seasoned to every form of retaliation known to humankind. Reopening and going back to work is my fuck you to power, as in, you tried to silence us but you failed and here we are. Deal with it. Today, I am taking steps to open small newsrooms in what I call the worst of the worst media zones, beginning on the west coast and fanning out eastward.
Maybe I’m either too smart for my own good or I’m a masochist, or maybe I’m just stupid, but the mission is clear and nothing is going to stop us. There is a hole in our media environment, in the US, and I am going to fill it, no matter who fights back. Investigative journalism is key to fixing our troubled nation. We are here and we’re ready to fight.
