Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

8-2025

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Sociology

Degree Program

Sociology, MA

Committee Chair

Heberle, Lauren

Committee Member

Carini, Robert

Committee Member

Storey, Angela

Author's Keywords

environmental justice; environmental racism; cumulative impacts; lived experience; Flint Water Crisis; Critical Environmental Justice

Abstract

In April 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan changed their municipal water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The effects of this change have been felt far and wide as news broke across the nation that this water was contaminated with lead and residents of Flint were getting sick. This research analyzes 170 news articles from three local and three national news outlets over a 10-year span, 2014 to 2024, to determine how community voice is presented in news media to portray the lived experiences and cumulative impacts of the Flint Water Crisis. Applying a Critical Environmental Justice framework, this study analyzes news presentations of the crisis through the lens of environmental injustice as state-sanctioned violence. The findings of this study suggest that local and national news outlets focus on characterizing the lived experiences of residents of Flint by describing what they physically, mentally, and emotionally went through during the crisis. While local and national news outlets focused less on directly reporting and portraying cumulative impacts of the Flint Water Crisis, many of the articles in the study mentioned the compounding nature of systemic racism, poverty, and chronic health risks, and acknowledged that social factors and historical contexts contribute to increased risks of exposure for vulnerable populations.

Download

Share

COinS