When I was communications director for the City of Detroit, I would receive calls from reporters all over the world who wanted to visit Detroit to ride around in a police cruiser or fire truck. I asked them, “Why?” Each one told me that they read stories about all the fires or crime in the city, and they wanted to see it for themselves.
That may have been Detroit a decade ago, but it is not the Detroit today. When reporters from other communities visit Detroit their perceptions change. In part because they had low expectations but more to the point because of past media stories about our city.
