John Flesher vividly recalls his first up-close encounter with the Great Lakes. He had flown into Michigan the day before and seen Lake Erie from his plane, but it was nothing like stepping onto a Lake Michigan beach that day in August 1989.
“The waves were just pounding the shore,” he says, “and I was absolutely blown away. I thought, this looks like the Atlantic Ocean. I just couldn’t believe it. The lake was fierce that day, and it extended to the horizon and beyond. Sort of my first inkling of just how large and magnificent these lakes are. Sometimes people need to see them first-hand, right up close, to get a feel for what they are.”
Flesher, who would spend more than three decades covering stories anchored in the Great Lakes system, will be recognized for his outstanding reporting on April 13 when he is inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. He retired in August 2023 from reporting for the Associated Press (AP), for which he worked 42 of his 43 years in the profession.
His journey to the Great Lakes began in North Carolina, where he was born and raised and obtained his English degree from North Carolina State University. At the time he envisioned life as a novelist and professor. “I loved the English language. Working with it, trying to find the right word,” Flesher says.
AP reporter John Flesher // Photo from The Traverse City Record-Eagle
Ernest Hemingway had gotten his start in journalism, so John thought it might be the avenue for him. But college loan debt ultimately rendered graduate school impractical.
After college graduation, he spent a year reporting for a daily newspaper in Goldsboro, North Carolina, before joining the AP for an eight-year stint as a Capitol reporter in Raleigh. That beat included some environmental stories, including disposal of hazardous waste, efforts to site a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility, and proposed legislation to protect sensitive coastal and mountaintop areas.
From there it was on to Washington, D.C. for two and a half years to cover events and issues important to Michigan, such as federal regulation of the auto industry and the doings of Michigan’s Congressional delegation. In 1992, he began a job as the AP’s northern Michigan correspondent, based in Traverse City. Over time, his work in Michigan increasingly focused on the Great Lakes.
The outdoors wasn’t unfamiliar to him. In childhood in the South, he says he “spent a lot of time hiking in the woods, going down to this little river that flowed near our house. But it took me a good deal longer to gain the kind of ecological awareness that informed my work as a journalist.”
There was plenty of ecology to cover from his Traverse City base. Stories ranged from toxic mercury emitted by a cement plant near Alpena to the use of public lands to the recovery of Michigan’s endangered wolf population to invasive zebra mussels and the Enbridge Line 5 controversy. John also covered other topics, including the cherry industry, crime, and Air Force base closings.
But it was the Great Lakes that captured his professional energy. He got approval from his editors to develop an environmental beat that would focus on the Great Lakes as well as Michigan-specific topics. “I saw my primary mission as telling the Great Lakes story, helping people understand the challenges they face.”
At the same time, the lure of his home base in Traverse City captured him. Originally planning to spend three to five years in northern Michigan, Flesher and family “fell in love” with their new home and spent more than three decades here. His wife, Sharon, is a former journalist whose Traverse City activities included membership on the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council and the Oryana Community boards. His children, Dylan and Leah, were born in Traverse City.
His reporting on brine pollution from oil and gas wells and on climate change won AP awards. He was also part of an AP team that won an award for its reporting on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He authored journalism that spanned a broad range of topics from wetlands to the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).
What does he think was his impact? “I hope I helped to raise awareness of every one of these issues,” he says. “I really think, ultimately, that’s the journalist’s job, to inform the public of what’s happening in the world around them. To make sure they get a good, factual account. After that, it’s really up to the people and their leaders to fix the problems.”
As an expert on the Great Lakes, John has an important perspective on their future.
“Everything we have seen, all the studies about climate change, indicates that there are going to be more and more weather extremes. There will be extreme drought – a need for water from other parts of the country that don’t have it.”
He says it’s likely there will be pressure on the Great Lakes and other freshwater resources.
Another concern is the fate of the GLRI, which has funneled more than $5 billion of federal aid into Great Lakes projects since 2009. With federal budgets likely to be slashed in the next few years, Flesher says it may be up to the Great Lakes states to fill the void.
Given the decline of newspapers and increasing reliance by the public on social media and opinion makers with radio shows and podcasts, what’s the future of the kind of journalism he practiced? “From where I sit, the answer is pretty simple: People have to be willing to read or watch or listen to good journalism and to financially support it. It’s a business, folks. Good journalism is expensive, and those of us who produce it have to turn a profit and make a living.
“If you want to continue getting good journalism in general and good environmental journalism in particular, you need to put your money where your mouth is and do your part. As far as I’m concerned, that means subscribing to established, legacy, mainstream news outlets.”
Asked to name his favorite Great Lake, John demurs. His family lived two blocks from Grand Traverse Bay, so he says he has a “special place in my heart” for Lake Michigan. But Lake Superior’s majesty also wins his affection.
His work helped inform readers about the problems and opportunities facing the Great Lakes for 34 years. The Lakes are better because this North Carolina boy ended up living within sight of one of the most magnificent lakes in the world.
Learn more about the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame
The Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to journalism, upholding a free and responsible press while inspiring others to elevate the profession.
Wonderful story for a wondrous career. Thanks, Dave, and John.