Steve Neavling, indie journalist. (Photo by Amber Hunt)
"Steve Neavling may be one of the most hated men in Detroit," writes Aaron Foley on the Columbia Journalism Review's website.
Since leaving his post as a Detroit Free Press city hall reporter two years ago, this slim journalist has been stalked, threatened, punched, pushed, and, currently, he’s facing an assault charge. “Today alone I got three death threats,” Neavling, 37, said late last month, after one of his latest posts, about graffiti artists boldly tagging Detroit’s crumbling historic buildings, went viral in Detroit.
Foley writes that Neavling’s "small mission has landed its fair share of local scoops and has Detroit’s legacy media taking notice."
His feisty blog "could point a possible way forward for journalists unsure of their futures," the article says.
“I never saw this as a full-time job until about six months into it. To have the freedom to pursue any story I want is truly liberating,” the five-year Detroit resident says.
“It was so many council meetings,” he added, regarding Free Press coverage — and indeed, it was a council meeting that led to his departure from the paper.
