Mick Unplugged - The Heart and Passion Behind Jordan Chariton's Investigative Journalism

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

Jordan Chariton is an independent investigative reporter known for his fearless, on-the-ground reporting on major issues like the Flint water crisis, Standing Rock protests, and the struggles of working-class Americans. His impactful stories have appeared in outlets like The Guardian, VICE News, and The Intercept. Chariton's coverage of critical issues such as homelessness, worker strikes, and political corruption has earned him a large following, especially through his independent news outlet, Status Coup. He is best known for his relentless reporting in Flint and Standing Rock, bringing attention to underreported crises and giving a voice to the voiceless. In today’s episode, they delve into Jordan's motivations, his experiences covering critical issues like the Flint water crisis, and his ongoing endeavors to report stories often overlooked by mainstream media. Takeaways: Give voice to the voiceless and expose injustice Stay grounded in stories Seek fulfillment over conventional success Sound Bites: "I want to give a voice to the voiceless." "I had to dedicate more than one story to it."    Connect and Discover LinkedIn:  linkedin.com/in/jordanchariton Instagram:  Instagram.com/jordanchariton Facebook: facebook.com/JordanChariton Website:  statuscoup.com Youtube:  youtube.com/@statuscoup Book:  We the Poisoned: Exposing the Flint Water Crisis Cover-up and the Poisoning of 100,000 Americans                 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 𝗠𝗘 𝗢𝗡: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickunplugged/ Apple:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mick-unplugged Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mickunplugged/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIPaMel-Fb4zQmCSZDPHu4A LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickhunt/ Website: https://www.mickhuntofficial.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations. Buckle up, here's Mick. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged, and we are in for a treat today. Our guest today is a fearless, relentless, insightful, and groundbreaking investigative reporter who has dedicated his career to exposing corruption

and amplifying the voices of the marginalized. Get ready for an amazing conversation with the bold, the unwavering, the visionary, my guy, Mr. Jordan Cheriton. Jordan, how are you doing today, brother? It's about the nicest accolades I've received in a long time. Thank you. No, because I literally have probably heard most,

I'm not going to say every interview, but most of your interviews, and you always get introduced phenomenally, and I can only do my part to make sure that that trend continues. So Jordan, there's so many conversations I want to have with you, but I want to start with this. You know, on Make Implugged, we talk about your because,

that thing that's deeper than your why. And following you as long as I have, I know that the work that you do has purpose. And so for Jordan, man, like what is your because? What's that purpose, that deeper thing than your why that makes you do what you do? I think for me, it's seeing a whole swath of Americans that are kind of left behind. There's really no one that's out there protecting them. The government, the public servants that are supposed to be representing them aren't, you know, nonprofits could only do so much. So in my travels, just, I mean, I would say, I hate to use the phrase, kind

of that silent group of people, silent majority that's just kind of treading water. They don't have a microphone in the mainstream media. They don't have government officials going to the floor of Congress telling their stories or advocating for them. So I've always kind of gravitated towards the underdog. And for me, it's kind of giving giving that microphone to people who don't have a voice in popular media, popular society. That's kind of my because. And I love that.

And one of the reasons that I've been a huge follower of yours is exactly what you just said. And to me, that takes courage, right? Because it's easy, and you see a lot, it's easy to give attention to it. It takes courage to actually say, I'm going to give it a voice and I'm going to go deeper and I'm going to sit and stay right here. Because again, a lot of journalists, a lot of reporters give things attention, right?

But they don't stay there. They don't give roots. And that's something that Jordan has actually done. And what sparked you into that? Like what was that first moment? You know, we'll talk about some of the popular things. But what was that first moment for Jordan when you said, you know what, I'm going to put roots here. I'm not just going to cover this. I'm actually going to come in and investigate it and talk about it. Yeah, I think two things come to mind. I actually worked for more mainstream corporate outlets. I worked at Fox News

for a period which was eye-opening. And then I went to MSNBC and I was behind the camera booking guests, producing segments. But at MSNBC, it just, it never sat well with me. It's in the middle of New York City, Rockefeller Center. And just walking into the studio is just, I mean, so many homeless people. And that was never covered on MSNBC.

And I had pitched my producer, you know, Hey, why don't I, it was around Christmas time, you know, how season of giving, why don't I go speak with homeless people? Not as like a, not as like a gimmick, you know, get their stories. Maybe we could help. And a producer kind of patted me on the back like, oh, that's admirable, but that won't rate. And meaning we won't get ratings. And that's when it kind of hit me.

I was already a little like unfulfilled in the mainstream media grind, but that's when I realized like, I'm never gonna be able to actually do stories of substance, talk to people that don't rate. So that's kind of when I left mainstream media. And for me, the second epiphany that's kind of sustained me to now, in 2016, I was covering the campaigns.

Obviously, it was very hectic with the Bernie Sanders kind of wave and then the Trump wave. So I was bouncing around, different rallies, different candidates, but a resident from Flint had come up to me at a conference. Basically it was almost like we're deserted on an apocalyptic island and the rescue chopters have left without us, begging me to come. So to my boss at the Times credit, he sent me. And I just realized like, you know, so many other stories in mainstream media, even independent

media is kind of like you parachute in, you cover it, and then you're out. And you know, everyone has a very short attention span and we can't stay on stories, whether they're mass shootings or whatever have you. But to me, this was a crisis was an understatement. This was a absolute disaster. And I just realized from that first trip in Flint, that I was going to have to dedicate more than one story to it. And as I kept going back, it wasn't really to me anymore about journalism. It became, this might be my defining thing in life. Not that I could bring justice for a community, but at least making sure this wasn't forgotten. I did not feel and I don't feel it should be normalized when Americans are poisoned

by their government in this instance. So for me, that was kind of the turning point where it's like you have two forks in the road. One is you keep going on the route of the news grind and doing different stories every day and going after what clicks and what's trending or staying on something that is not only a news story, it's a crime against humanity, even if it won't necessarily, you're not gonna win awards,

you're not gonna grow your Twitter followers, you might lose money. But this right here is a deeper pursuit. So I chose to stay on the stories like Flint that were definitely abandoned by mainstream media, the government. And, uh, you know, I think I live happier and healthier as a result. And personally, I applaud you for that.

You know, someone who's not from Flint, right? Who doesn't even have family or whatever in Flint. I was connected to the story and then ultimately, you know, gave financially to support because of the things that you were doing, right? Like again, yeah, mainstream media told us about it. We knew it was there, but to your point, it was also during an election season

and we know what's always gonna take press event from, you know, July through December when there's an election season, right? And I'm not saying that that's wrong, but you decided to take up roots and say, you know what, I'm gonna talk more than just the superficial story. There's something going on that's not right here.

And so for you, again, I apologize for that because it was that awareness that led not just me, but people like me that care about humans, they care about the humanity of doing the right thing to give and to do some things that we probably wouldn't have known about. So I've always wanted to ask you this question, Jordan, because again, that's when I first got to know you. What made you say like, what was that one thing that you saw or that you heard that was like, holy crap, I have to do more. I have to talk further than, you know, there's poisoned water in Flint. Yeah, I think, uh, my first trip there, it's kind of overwhelming in a way, you

know, at first you go into these situations, kind of really wanted to cover the, you know, the human element, you know, kids with rashes all over their body from the toxic water or people losing their hair, just driving around the neighborhood the first few days you see porches, I mean, cases of bottled water stacked to the top. So you really, my goal was to show the human element. I had no idea there was this like decades long corruption scandal that led to this. But, you know, as much as the residents appreciated me interviewing them and trying to get the personal end, I mean, I couldn't, they wouldn't stop talking in a good way. You

need to, you need to look into this politician, you need to look into this bank, you need to look into, you know You need to look into this bank. You need to look into, you know, it was just dumping stuff on my lap. And, you know, I had some investigative reporting experience, but I had never really, I never really looked into anything that involved, you know, privatization schemes, Wall Street banks involved, multiple levels of government from the federal government to the state level, to levels of government from the federal government to the state level, to the city, to the county.

So that's when it kind of hit me like, whoa, this is not, this is not what Rachel Maddow reported. This is not what the media was reporting, which is just like, oh, you know, the government to quote save money just chose not to add the right chemicals. to quote save money just chose not to add the right chemicals. This was much, much deeper than that, more systematic, years in the making. It's not something that just happened with a decision to switch to a river. And that's when I kind of realized like, wow, this is not something that I could just, you know, in YouTube journalism, you kind of go places and

you try to get bang for your buck right away, you know, do a live stream that goes viral or do an interview that goes viral or, but with this, I realized like, this is, this is going to take dedication. I'm going to have to go back many times. I'm going to have to try and get documents and dig through it on my own time. Uh, I'm going to have to try and connect dots, meaning talk to one resident and get them to connect me to another one who maybe could connect me to a politician, who maybe could connect me to a source that won't want to go on the record.

So for me, it was just like all the residents. I think in journalism too often, reporters first, they don't go to residents or community members, they go to politicians or experts. And to me, it's the reverse. If you want to know where the bodies are buried, you go to the people who don't have a voice, which is the community. Sure, there's some people that, you know, everyone has a motive or a motivation and you got to vet things, but that's what it hit me.

Like, wow, I have all these residents all pointing me to A, B, C, and D, and I have heard nothing about any of these entities in the media. And that's why it took 21 reporting trips and counting and a lot of driving back and forth to Michigan. Because if you want to truly break all the tentacles of a corrupt onion, you can't just parachute in and out. You can't just cover in and out. You can't just cover it here and there. You have to really stick with it, which is not always the most fruitful in

terms of revenue or building your profile. But in my experience, when the reporting on things like Flint actually breaks through and reaches people, the general response is, why are you the only one covering this? Why haven't I heard about this in mainstream media? So it's been rewarding that way. Wow. I want to back up to the beginning for Jordan. Growing up in Strong Island, as my buddies from Long Island like to call it, right? So growing up Strongowan, when did you realize this was what you wanted to do? Yeah, honestly, I didn't realize when I was younger, um, I kind of grew up normal. I was actually in special ed for a learning disability. So I kind of always felt a little different, I guess you could say, uh, even when I switched to like mainstream class, a normal size, they still pulled me out of class to

go to like speech class or OT. So that, you know, I didn't have a bad childhood, but sometimes that was a little stigmatizing. It was kind of hard to make friends. So I kind of, I guess I always felt a bit like a outsider, you know, had those challenges and then I, I don't know, this is cheesy, but I watched Shawshank Redemption for the first time and I don't know, I just, I don't know, this is cheesy, but I watched Shawshank Redemption for the first time. And, uh, I don't know.

I just, I got glued just to that story and the injustice of it all and the different layers of corruption. And I ended up watching it many different times just to see if there was something I missed, I guess. And then, um, in college, I just was looking for an internship. I just stumbled into an internship at the local Fox station. I worked on the assignment desk, which is kind of like the air traffic control. It's where all the police sirens are going off and all this.

That's where you kind of at local station, that's where you kind of decide like what stories to send reporters out on. And, you know, it was exciting. But at the other, on the other end, I just kind of felt like it was like, yeah, we're just kind of covering like if it bleeds, it leads and like the murders and the worst of the worst, but we're not actually covering anything of deep substance. You know, we're not kind of covering economic issues. We're not covering local corruption. And then, you know, talking to different people at the station. Well, yeah, you know, you can only go so far because of advertisers and legal.

So I think that's when it kind of hit me. Like, I like the news industry, but I, again, in college, I went to school in Tampa, which had a big homelessness problem. So I would talk to homeless people, but I realized like, wow, there's no news outlets that would actually run this. So I think that's where it kind of dawned on me, like I'm a square peg into a round hole or whatever that phrase is.

Because the things that I wanted to cover, not that murder and those things aren't important, but most of the news coverage was just kind of like the shiny new stuff, not like the deeper systemic stuff. Yeah. So that's where it kind of dawned on me. But unfortunately, there's very few outlets that exist where you could do that, mainstream outlets.

And I just worked for many of my early years, you know, kind of bopping around corporate media, then nonprofits, then writing on my own. And I kind of was stuck and I kind of late twenties, early thirties, like, was just like, you know what, I don't think I'm going to be able to, I don't think there is a platform that I could do what I want to do. I didn't have the money to start it myself. So, um, I was ready to check out and then I just stumbled into the right place at the right time.

I went to a talk that, um, Cenk Uygur was giving. He was the head of the Young Turks, which is a, the first like online news outlet, really. Um, I approached him after it was given at YouTube in New York. And I kind of just told him everything I'm telling you. Like, I'm kind of like a F the echo chamber kind of person, but I'm stuck in the echo chamber. And here's what I want to cover.

And here's what I think I could do. And, you know, he told me like they at some point wanted to try like having like a on the ground reporter, but the way he phrased it, that was like a far out objective. And I must've said something right. Cause a month later he called me and he's like, you want to cover the New Hampshire presidential debate tomorrow, between Bernie

and Hillary. This was in 2016. I had a job at the time, but I just called in sick and went up to New Hampshire. I didn't really know like what cover it meant. But that's where it all started. I like what cover it meant. But that's where it all started. I stayed outside while all the reporters are inside, like interviewing campaign officials and this and that before the debate. I was outside in 10 degrees interviewing Bernie supporters and Hillary supporters. And there's one interview I did with a Vietnam vet. He started tearing up talking about, you know, all the BS politicians. He's, uh, you know, been flooded with his whole life and Bernie was the first person that really was telling the truth. And it was kind of like, that's where it hit me.

Like this was not like a produce scripted interview on CNN. This was like real man on the street, the kind of stuff that you don't really see often, and this guy was cussing, which it was fine. And that's what I realized. Like, this is the kind of reporting I want to do talking to people, whether it's politics, social justice, exploitation. And that's where it started. The opportunity I got at the Young Turks.

Awesome. And I want to tie that with something you said earlier when you were talking about mainstream and it's something I talked to tie that with something you said earlier when you were talking about mainstream. And it's something I talked to leaders and individuals about. It's understanding joy and fulfillment to me is greater than happiness, right? Because if you're not fulfilled with the work you're doing, and if it doesn't bring you joy, right? Like you're never going to have the career, the life or whatever that you want or that you anticipate having. And so again, I applaud you for seeking fulfillment because a lot of times people will stay stuck in, I'm comfortable, I'm happy, but maybe I'm not fulfilled. And you kind of embodied that always seek fulfillment. So that's awesome, brother.

Yeah, and I think it also it just depends on who you are. You know, I don't think you're a bad person if your idea of fulfillment is winning a Pulitzer and getting invited to, you know, fancy book parties and, you know, being a DC journalist, you know, creature, and getting invited onto the Sunday shows. I mean, it doesn't make you know, creature, uh, and getting invited onto the Sunday shows. I mean, it doesn't make you a bad person, but to me, that's not the most fulfilling.

To me, I'd rather have, you know, not win the awards or not get that mainstream credibility, but have communities that actually depend on me, have communities that appreciate what I'm doing. And if I'm lucky, actually try to deliver whatever justice I can through appreciate what I'm doing. And if I'm lucky, actually try to deliver whatever justice I can through the reporting I'm doing. To me, that's more rewarding because there's no better feeling than if you're on the ground somewhere and people are just grateful just by the act of talking to them, by the act of getting their story out. To me, that's better than any public recognition you could get or, you know, I would love to have the following of Joe Rogan, but what does it matter if it's not for something greater,

if that makes sense? Totally agree. Totally agree. So, you know, you mainstream independent route, and then now let's talk about the status quo, right? Like, let's talk about the birth of that and the reason behind that and then some things that you're doing with that now. Yeah, so I was at the Young Turks for two years. I don't think I'd be where I am now without that platform. So I definitely appreciate it. I was thinking about kind of going out on my own anyway. Um, you know, even though the young Turks gave me a lot of liberty, the bottom line is if you really want to do it the way you want to do it and the way you,

your vision, uh, only you can do it. Oh, only you could do it. So, uh, for a variety of reasons, uh, I started status coup in 2018 and it was very difficult because although I had somewhat of a following from the young Turks, YouTube had changed its algorithm. So basically a lot of these social platforms are constantly tweaking their algorithms. And the way that YouTube had changed its algorithms was essentially to elevate what they called authoritative news.

They put CNN and Fox News in that category, which I disagree with. And de facto suppressing, hiding independent news or not authoritative news. So everything I was doing at the Young Turks, which was getting a lot of eyeballs, it was like halved. Not because people stopped liking it, just because people weren't seeing it. So that was a real struggle because it kind of gets in your head like, oh, is public sentiment shifting?

People don't want stories, you know, about Flint or other communities I was covering. So it was really an uphill climb. Um, I was lucky. We got at the beginning, a small investor, like 50 grand, which really went out the door right away just to buy equipment and bring on a cameraman. And from there, I just did it bootstraps. We did a GoFundMe to just get the money to go on the ground. times. I remember going to Virginia, one of those first stories, there were Virginians literally protesting by climbing up trees on their properties and doing tree sit-ins to stop fossil fuel companies from cutting down their trees to put put a pipeline through. And it was very scrappy. I mean, the mic we were using was terrible. The audio was terrible. The

camera wasn't great. Didn't have any marketing or, you know, real budget for advertising. Um, but you know, the more we went, we were starting to get paid signups for membership. Um, and it's just been kind of like a roller coaster from there. There's been stories that really hit and you grow, uh, from those stories. Uh, you know, for example,, we were on the ground last year covering the United Auto Workers Strike. We were there for three weeks, which is not cheap

to be on the ground for three weeks. We covered it in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois. We went to Iowa to cover the John Deere strikes. We covered the Amazon union organizing campaign for a year in Staten Island before they won, when it did not look like they were going to win. We did reporting trips for two weeks during the worst of COVID, interviewing people facing eviction, interviewing homeless people. And some of those stories, although I felt it righteous, just didn't hit. And some of those stories, although I felt it righteous, you know, just didn't hit and some of them did.

And sometimes there's been periods where I'm like, I don't know how I'm gonna keep the lights on because we're spending like four grand per trip because, you know, myself, a cameraman, flights, hotels, food, rent a car, but we're not growing. And then there's other stories where for whatever reason, we get like 200 paid signups that for that story and our YouTube subscribers. So YouTube subscribers go up.

So it's definitely been, you know, peaks and valleys and it's a lot harder to do it this way. It's, I feel it's more righteous, but it is a lot harder to do it where you don't have the built-in funding. You don't have the built-in resources. You don't have the built-in resources. I can't remember the last weekend I didn't work. Um, I can't remember the last time I've truly even on holidays had. You know, complete, um, you know, time off because when you have your own thing,

it's really you yourself and I, you know, I don't, we didn't have the, we don't, at the moment we don't have the funding for another full-time reporter. We haven't had the funding for a full-time producer, a full-time business, a business management or business growth, a, you know, full-time, an assistant would be nice because I'm kind of, you know, I'm way too much is on my plate. So you have to kind of do a lot of it yourself along with my producer. So, um, yeah, it's, there's definitely been moments where it's like, wow, for my own health, I don't know how much longer I could do this, but, um, I read a lot of the YouTube comments, not for my ego, just to kind of get that.

That will to keep going and seeing how many, how people appreciate that. Uh, it keeps me going. And, you know, fortunately right now, through the book I published last year and the stories we're working on right now, we've seen more rapid growth. So I'm hoping that continues. Awesome.

And one, I want you to know it is needed. It is breathtaking for a lot of us. So definitely keep going, brother. Definitely keep going. Thank you. So the book that you wrote last year, tell us a little bit about it. Yeah, I think it goes back to just the daunting,

overwhelming feeling in Flint. You know, I had broken several stories on the Flint water coverup, which most Americans don't know the details about. And a lot of people think it's, oh, that's too bad. It's, you know, but they think it's about Flint. And really the details are much broader than just Flint. I mean, it involved a massive fraud involving Wall Street banks and involved just to me brazen racism, greed, brazen racism, greed, one of the biggest public health disasters that's ongoing,

cancer is surging today, 11 years later in Flint because of the water and the damage. So a lot of the feedback I got from outlets, the few that responded, because a lot of them just didn't care and were just 24-7 Trump, was this is great, but this is too much for one article. You might wanna try a book. And after a certain point, I had broken a few stories in the Guardian and Vice and a couple other places, but I basically had just thousands of documents from the criminal investigation

that had never been out there. And I basically had like shells of the story and splinters all over the place, but not all one piece together. So, um, the only time off I actually had, believe it or not, was when my daughter was born, cause I took paternity to leave. So it's, you know, probably not the best fatherhood, but instead of sleeping, when she was sleeping, I started writing it. Um, and I wrote it. It

was challenging because with a book like this, it's just a mountain of actual facts and people and you know, moving parts, but you don't want to bore people to death because it's very heavy. So I also wanted to weave in the human parts and the human stories. So I wrote it relatively quick, but the actual rewriting editing took like six months to a year because I just I settled on why don't I start each chapter with a story of a resident and kind of set the scene with exchanges I

had with them and then get into the timeline of the cover-up. So overall it took me about a year between writing, editing, and then trying to find a publisher. I can't tell you, I had quite a few prominent ones say to me, like, oh, we think this is really admirable. Your reporting is great, but we don't think this is, quote, commercially viable, i.e. enough people would care. And I said, well, Watergate seems to be a very prominent story that a lot of books have been written about. What if I told you this was the real Watergate and people actually died as opposed to that Watergate? But I think at the end of the day, unfortunately, a lot of the mass media, so whether it's TV news, book publishing,

they're all consolidated in New York, DC, LA. It doesn't make them bad people, but the prominent stories aren't generally of flyover country, with few exceptions. And I think because Flint had happened so long ago, and this was such a deep dive investigation, I think for lack of a better word, it was like out of sight, out of mind. I've gotten that for media outlets that I've pitched stories to. I mean, I had like the goods. I had thousands of confidential documents, smoking guns, and media outlets would ask me, one in particular said, is there a Trump angle? I said, no, there's not. Is destruction of evidence,

political payoffs, not enough for you? So yeah, it took me, I mean, for six months, I was just stupidly, you know, blind, sending out the publishers, because I didn't know any better, to try and get a publisher. Unfortunately, I got lucky. I connected to a book agent who happened to be from Flint. So this was a passion project for him. And he connected me with the right publisher. And for me, you know, I said to myself, I very much doubt this will ever become a New York Times bestseller. It was very hard because the way it came out, it was going to come out right before the election. And it's hard to get attention right before presidential election. But for me, I just said, if nothing more, at least if I could

say at the end of my career, I got the actual truth out about this, not just crime against humanity, but coverup, then I could sleep well. And for me, the most gratifying part, frustratingly, most Flint residents didn't know the truth because their media failed to dig. That's why I had to keep going back because the Michigan media stopped covering it. So the fact that so many more Flint people

now know the truth, to me, it was well worth it. Amazing. What's, and we're gonna do a book teaser now. What's one fact that people should know that they probably don't know about the Flint water disaster? I think most people don't know that the former governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, was actually warned a year before

the Flint water switch that there would be health problems if they switched to the Flint River, that there'd be bacteria problems, there'd be carcinogens, cancer-causing chemicals. He was briefed on it and he allowed it. So that's one. Two, I'm pretty sure most people are not aware that he received the briefing 16 months before he told the public about the deadly Legionnaires outbreak. That was the waterborne bacteria in Flint that resulted from the river switch, killed a lot of people. that resulted from the river switch killed a lot of people. He received a briefing about that in October 2014. He didn't. He sat on it for 16 months.

So the crisis could have ended a lot earlier and a lot a lot more people could be alive today. And more importantly, a lot more people that are alive could have a lot less severe health problems if not for that. And bigger picture, I do not think most people know that the Flint water crisis was really just a for-profit privatization scheme that used poor, frankly black residents of Flint as guinea pigs. Flint had gotten its water without an issue from Detroit for 50 years. The water was originally coming out of the Great Lakes, which is some of the cleanest water on earth. And because of a lot of people's greed and recklessness, they decided let's try to build a completely new water system. And Flint,

because Flint was going to be joining that new water system unnecessarily, by the way, during the construction of that new water system,arily by the way. During the construction of that new water system, they said, we'll just use the Flint River, which had been polluted for 100 years by General Motors and Dow Chemical and DuPont. And we'll use the water plant, which I compare to these Boeing planes that are in air falling apart. Well, basically we'll add the parts mid-flight. That was the mentality. So most people don't know that contrary to the media, this was not some tragic mistake to not add the right chemicals to try to save money. This was actually a scheme to make money. And the victims are from Flint.

And lastly, I think the way the media reports, not just these types of things, but so many environmental or situations like this, they put it in the past tense. I mean, if you look in Google, it's like the Flint water crisis was something that happened from 2014 to 2016. It's an ongoing crisis. In parts of the city, the water is still bad. I was just there for my book. Residents were showing me their fresh rashes from the water. You have cancer surging. It's not coming from the weather, it's from the water. They don't have free healthcare as citizens in Flint, which they should. They don't have ongoing testing. All the criminal charges were dropped.

So you're not getting criminal accountability for what happened here, which in my view, gives other politicians elsewhere the green light to do whatever they want because there's no accountability for what they did in Flint. So it's ongoing and they have not even replaced all the pipes that were damaged from that toxic water now 11 years later. So that is not a crisis past tense.

That's an ongoing disaster. And to me, this is also a media disaster because if you had diligent media that stayed on stories like this, you could actually solve the problems much, much earlier. You put pressure on the entities that need to have the pressure, but when you stop, everything's over

to the point you're making. It had an expiration date, but the reality is it's not. So Jordan, man, that leads me to this question. Like, how come it's not a big freaking deal like it should be? Like what, why is, and I know you're not the only one, right, but why is it Jordan and others that aren't getting the notoriety or the press that should be like, why is nothing happening fast enough? Let me say it that way.

Yeah, I think that unfortunately, a lot of people focus on politics in turn, like almost like it's a sport. Like it's the Democrats versus Republicans, blue team versus red team. But I don't think people realize that the only color really in this country that matters is green. And pretty much most of our public apparatus has been privatized. I mean, I don't want to get too in the weeds, but people should look up Bill Clinton's Telecommunications Act of 1996. It deregulated the media. And that deregulation of the media consolidated, you know, hundreds of media outlets into six multi-billion dollar conglomerates owning everything. So when you have such corporate power of the media, there is incentive not to do deep dive investigations

into things that might not reflect well on Wall Street, might not reflect well on for-profit healthcare, might not reflect well on the military defense contractors. So that to me is why you don't have, you have kind of substance level coverage of Flint, you know, interviews with the families, you know, spotlight on a kid suffering with learning disabilities, and all those things are important, but not the deeper dive into the who knew what, when, where, you know, and things that could actually do damage to special interests that fund

the government, you know, donate to politicians. I know in my book, I reveal a media outlet in Flint, a local ABC station, they killed a story six months after the water switch on that deadly Legionnaires outbreak. They had documentation that one of the local hospitals had a Legionnaires outbreak. At the same time, residents were complaining about the water, they killed the story. I later learned that the hospital was one of their top advertisers.

So unfortunately, these stories are kinda getting swept under the rug or covered at the beginning kind of artificially. Official narratives are put out about what happened that aren't the actual truth. And then they kind of slowly go away for the next shiny object. And I think until there's reform where media outlets aren't controlled by for-profit entities, whatever people's view on healthcare, for example, there's now a broader discussion about should healthcare be really a commodity and for-profit?

I think the same thing needs to be said about the public airwaves, because it used to be news outlets were a quote, lost leader for the parent companies. You didn't make money off your news outlet, but it was part of your brand that you're doing a public service. Not so much anymore.

So I think if the corporate entities had less power or billionaires didn't own Twitter and Facebook, et cetera, you might have more room for journalists to actually do journalism and less conflicts of interest between the parent companies of these media outlets. Because there's no reason in the world that a guy from New York should be having to travel

to Flint over 20 times to cover an ongoing water crisis and cover up when there's the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, the Flint Journal, people need to wonder why did they stop investigating? Amazing, amazing. So Jordan, I'm going to make sure that we have, um, in the show notes, in the description everywhere links to the book, because I think everyone needs to definitely read everyone needs to follow Jordan, which leads to the next question, Jordan, what do you have going on new?

What's upcoming? And then we'll end it with where can people follow and find you? Yeah, I'm actually working on, I guess, Flint 2.0. This, it doesn't end. So, um, for those that remember in Ohio in 2023, uh, Norfolk Southern crashed their trains and then unnecessarily detonated a million pounds of toxic chemicals over Ohio and Pennsylvania. And that unfortunately has also been kind of swept up by the EPA and the media.

So I've been digging on that. I'm working on a story now because it's pretty clear the EPA misled the residents there about what they were and were not finding as far as toxic chemicals. So I'm working on that as we speak. Should have that investigative story out soon. Also working on healthcare stories. Whatever you think about what happened with the United Healthcare CEO,

it's definitely opened up and opened up the floodgates in terms of the spotlight on the horror stories that are everywhere. Liberals, conservatives about dealing with health insurance companies and being denied or delayed care. So I've been doing interviews with folks about their healthcare stories, digging into some of the,

let's just say, less than ethical practices of the health insurance companies. So people could check that out. And all of this is on our YouTube channel, Status Coup, as well as our sub stack. Amazing. Jordan, brother, I appreciate you. I appreciate this conversation. Like I was telling you offline, been a huge follower of you since the Flint crisis. And ever since then, I feel like I've gotten to know you personally through your YouTube channel,

through the articles and things that have been written about you and all the interviews that you've done. So from human to human, I just want to say thank you and keep up the great work, brother. Thanks for giving this attention. I appreciate it. Absolutely. For all the viewers and listeners, remember your because is your superpower. Go unleash it.

Thank you for tuning in to Make Unplugged. Keep pushing your limits, embracing your purpose, and chasing greatness. Until next time, stay unstoppable.