Curt Guyette, the journalist who broke the Flint, Michigan, water crisis, spoke to UF students Thursday.
Guyette, an investigative journalist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, discussed his involvement with exposing lead poisoning in Flint. About 70 students listened in Gannett Auditorium as he talked about his two-and-a-half-month investigation of Flint’s water.
He covered emergency management for ACLU, he said. They later asked him to investigate emergency managers in Flint. While inspecting the city, it quickly became apparent that the rust-colored water wasn’t healthy.
“The water didn’t look good, it didn’t smell good; it didn’t taste good,” he said.
The city, looking to save money, began using water from the Flint River in April 2014, he said. The river’s high salt concentration and pollution-corroded pipes contaminated the supply with lead.
Guyette said he helped publish an initial report on the crisis, but city officials said the water was safe.
Meanwhile, residents of Flint protested the water, which contained carcinogens and E. coli and caused rashes.
“The residents just wanted to know what was going on,” he said.
He said some didn’t take his report seriously because he was hired by the ACLU and not a traditional news outlet.
“In some ways, I am exploring new territory as a journalist,” he said.
UF journalism master lecturer Mike Foley said Guyette came to Gainesville to speak at the frank2016 communications conference. Foley said he wanted to expose his students to investigative journalism in his reporting class.
“I think he’s a modern-day crusader,” Foley said. “We need more investigative projects, and I feel that the cost and the time involved will curve that.”
Stacey Marquis, a UF journalism graduate student, said she was inspired by Guyette’s reporting.
“I didn’t realize how painstakingly he kind of went through to get that to come to light,” Marquis said. “The way that he went door-to-door and did that traditional journalism was inspiring for me.”
