A Note From Jordan: East Palestine Crisis and Why We Need YOU
Status Coup is ON-THE-GROUND as sick residents beg for help; the aftermath of the greed-induced train explosion feels eerily similar to the Flint water crisis and cover-up
In a short while, I am going to ask you to sign up as a Status Coup member for as low as $5 a month.
First, I want to bring you inside what seems like the makings of a coverup in East Palestine Ohio.
This isn’t the time, after 2 weeks of coverage, the mainstream media abondons a catastrophic story like the massive ecological disaster in East Palestine, with national media just taking Norfolk Southern’s and Government agencies’ word that it’s “safe” while residents are getting sick, livelihoods damaged, and who knows how far this reaches?
—The government and corporate coverups ramp up when the cameras leave and coverage shifts from hourly and daily to occasional updates to abondoning coverage alltogether. This happened in Flint…
Mainstream media outlets typically only care when they deem an URGENCY to a catastrophe—when it's new and the flames, poison water, or adverse health symptoms seem most dire. They deem what is “newsworthy” or not by what will bring in the viewer rather than what NEEDS to be reported.
In my experience, once they predictably stop covering and caring, is when the REAL coverup begins...
That coverup is a mixture of government, media, and in the case of East Palestine, the corporations like Norfolk Southern, pushing forward flawed testing in order to provide the "all clear" sign and sweep things under the rug. The void of media coverage—particularly ON-THE-GROUND provides a false and dangerous sense of security and closure to a story--giving people and news consumers the false impression that the story is resolved or things have gotten better in East Palestine (or Flint).
Meanwhile, residents continue to get sicker, medical bills pile up, their livelihood is impacted, and many have nowhere to go, or don’t want to leave their homes.
Residents and those impacted by disasters like these continually get spurned by national and even local news outlets who stop covering the story or water down coverage significantly when they do cover it—typically toeing the EPA, state environmental department, and corporate line that everything is "improving" and just dandy.
Making matters worse—and easier for the mainstream media to move on—is the presidential campaign season heating up with national outlets already fixating and speculating on the GOP 2024 horse race and whether Biden will or won't run (and if anyone will primary him).
In 2016 coverage of the Flint Wate Crisis fell out of the news as media pivoted back to covering Trump's tweets 24/7—at a great disservice to Flint residents who were left to fend for themselves as then Gov. Rick Snyder's admin, with the help of a lazy media, executed a massive coverup.
The void left by mainstream media abandoning East Palestine has to be filled by INDEPENDENT MEDIA. As someone who has frustratingly tried to keep the ONGOING Flint Water Crisis in the news for 6 years, this won't be easy.
But Status Coup will continue to cover & investigate, even when this story is NO LONGER TRENDING and when it is no longer in the news. We will continue speaking with residents on and off camera to find out what's actually happening ON-THE-GROUND and distinguish between fact and fiction.
If you can chip in $5-10 bucks a month to help us fund REPEATED ON-THE-GROUND reporting trips to East Palestine Ohio, please join Status Coup as a MEMBER.
You guys are doing great work, and I wish you all the health and abundance you need to keep doing what you're doing to the best of your ability. Anyone can "move on" to other things, especially when there's promise of financial gain, but it takes real character to stick by people in need. Mad respect!