Native Detroit author and journalist Bill McGraw has spent decades shedding light on Detroit’s hidden stories and creating new platforms for civic reporting.

He doesn’t just cover Detroit news.

He lives inside it, unearthing that which others have forgotten.

For over three decades, he served as a city-desk reporter, deputy metro editor, sportswriter, columnist, and foreign correspondent at the Detroit Free Press, as well as a freelancer.

He also worked as a teacher, educating a new generation of journalists while helping to build new media forms with a strong foundation in Detroit.

Highly acclaimed in his field, his work has appeared in esteemed national publications such as the Washington Post, Newsweek, and The New York Times.

McGraw is best-known for his unique take on journalism.

In 2007, he made it his mission to drive every one of Detroit’s streets (2,100 in total) for a series called “Driving Detroit,” which earned him widespread recognition for his raw, hard-hitting street-level reporting.

From there, he served as the co-editor of “The Detroit Almanac” and helped write “The Quotations of Mayor Coleman A. Young” before co-founding Deadline Detroit, one of the city’s first and most groundbreaking local news websites.

Bill McGraw has bridged journalism and public memory for decades, and in 2014 he was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame for his decades of dedication and boots-on-the-ground reporting on Detroit’s transformation from a broken city into one full of promise.

He was also awarded a Kresge Artist Fellowship for his literary and historic contributions, and beyond print, he has held roles in acclaimed Detroit documentaries such as “12th & Clairmount” and “BURN.”

In short, Bill McGraw doesn’t treat Detroit as just a backdrop.

He is the city’s memory restorer: persistent, meticulous, and always committed to telling the full story, even when it’s not easy to swallow.

Victoria Jackson (Editor In Chief)

Victoria Jackson is a lifelong student and sharp-eyed documentarian of all things Detroit, from its rich musical roots and cultural icons to its shifting neighborhoods, storied architecture, and underground legends. With her finger firmly on the pulse of both the city’s vibrant past and its rapidly unfolding future, she brings a deeply personal, historically grounded lens to every piece she writes.

Published on: October 8, 2025