Rural Journalism

11/06/2023

Through Dec. 31, the Institute for Rural Journalism's donation page is dedicated to raising money for Kentucky Health News, which is now a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News and its NewsMatch program, which will match your donation!

By Al Cross , Publisher, Kentucky Health News Director emeritus, Institute for Rural Journalism, University of Kentucky For more than a doze...

10/30/2023

At the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues we are displaying most of the work that won Sam Adams and Ben Gish the Al Smith Award for public service through community journalism, presented Thursday night. https://irjci.blogspot.com/2023/07/mountain-eagle-editor-and-reporter-win.html

10/27/2023

Community journalism brings people together, and it's more trusted than journalism in general. There's a lesson in that.

Susan Page listens to a question as moderator Benjy Hamm, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism, listens. (Photo by Patti Cross) "R...

10/25/2023

Looks like an easily localized story that could even generate a little advertising.

Midwestern wells can be contaminated with bacteria and nitrates. (Photo via the Iowa Environmental Council) While millions of rural America...

10/01/2023

In which I say what a newspaper means to a small town.

As many local news outlets scramble to publish after the closure of a Colorado printing press, towns look at options to preserve their voices

09/13/2023

Editors and publishers, ask yourself: Which side are you on?

By Al Cross Director emeritus, Institute for Rural Journalism, University of Kentucky After local police raided the office of the Marion C...

09/06/2023

Report for America has made a special effort to recruit rural news outlets to apply for next year's corps of reporters, and there's a new angle that may appeal to rural editors and publishers.

By Al Cross Director emeritus, Institute for Rural Journalism, University of Kentucky Report for America has become well known for sending p...

08/18/2023

Welcome, Benjy Hamm, as director of the Insfir Rural Journalism!

Benjy Hamm By Benjy Hamm Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues The media world has changed significantly since Al ...

08/17/2023

This week's Marion County Record came out on time, then a local judge ordered the city police to return computers and other materials they seized from the Kansas newspaper on Friday. The paper's been investigating the police chief but hasn't published a story. Yet.

Marion County Record Publisher Eric Meyer talked with journalists after his weekly newspaper hit the stands Wednesday. The subhead reads "bu...

08/14/2023

https://irjci.blogspot.com/2023/08/these-are-hitler-tactics-and-something.html

Meyer pronounced her first name "Joann." “These are Hi**er tactics and something has to be done.” Those were some of the last words said by...

08/04/2023

Uvalde, Texas, was very unlucky last May. But it is lucky to have such a good newspaper.

Uvalde Leader-News Publisher Craig Garnett (OPA photo) Craig Garnett, publisher of the Uvalde Leader-News in southwest Texas, is the winner...

07/24/2023

This always-excellent event overlaps with the National Newspaper Association convention in D.C., but some of us have been known to make both conventions in the same weekend (plus the SPJ convention, which will be in Las Vegas, too far away to do that this time).

Radically Rural , the two-day national summit that features sessions on community journalism, is offering a big program and a new pricing sc...

07/17/2023

How do we define and count ghost newspapers? Perhaps a report of this discussion will start another one.

By Al Cross Director and professor, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky There seems to be little dou...

07/16/2023

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, especially if there's an opportunity to grow your market and render more public service.

At least two California newspapers, a daily in the north and a weekly in the south, have stared the realities of the local-news business in ...

07/14/2023

How do you revive a ghost newspaper? At the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, Jeremy Gulban told us how he's trying.

By Al Cross Director and Professor, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky The owner of dozens of "ghos...

07/14/2023

Our first report on research presented at the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America.

Joey Young of Kansas Publishing Ventures, left, followed Nick Mathews of the University of Missouri, right , to discuss his weekly rural ne...

07/14/2023

One of a series of reports from the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America.

State-level nonprofits or "conservancies" are "the most sustainable path forward for rural newsrooms," the chief portfolio officer of the N...

07/11/2023

They're not revealing the sale price, as usual, but the National Trust for Local News may be making the biggest investment in rural journalism since Warren Buffett got into the business in a big way. He got out, and since then there's been a slow but growing trend to nonprofit ownership. https://irjci.blogspot.com/2023/07/masthead-maine-papers-sold-to-national.html

07/02/2023

South Carolina's relatively small size has made it a good test bed for this approach; now it's time for newspapers in other states to apply the lessons learned.

Owner Pierre Manigault talks with Ted Koppel. (CBS image) At a time when the nation is losing two newspapers a week, "Some papers are findin...

06/29/2023

The broadband grants favored rural areas, as expected because that's where service is poor, but how rural is your state and how did it fare? Here's a story and a table we worked up.

States with large rural populations fared well, as expected, when the Biden administration announced $2.5 billion in grants for expansion of...

06/27/2023

Here's an update on the National Summit, with a link to a compete set of speaker biographies. We have an outstanding list of presenters!

Friday, June 30, is the last day to take advantage of the room block for the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, to be held July...

06/27/2023

At a time when newspapers, including rural newspapers, have become editorially timid, we salute those weekly editors who write strong editorials.

Steve Bagwell Steve Bagwell, editorial-page editor of the McMinnville News-Register in Oregon, won the 2023 Golden Quill Award for editoria...

06/23/2023

We have an outstanding lineup of speakers and topics. Please join us, in person or online.

The program for the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, July 7 in Lexington, Ky., and online, includes some of the latest resear...

06/23/2023

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, now in their annual conference, tackled a tough subject last night. Hats off to one of the best editor-publishers, Reed Anfinson.

By Al Cross Director and Professor, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky Has there been a more stress...

06/16/2023

Jeremy Gulban's venture into community journalism with Cherry Road Media has been an encouraging development; now he's wrestling with how to revive newspapers that Gannett "ran into the ground." We will hear from him at the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America on July 7.

Speakers are still being added to the program of the third National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, to be held July 7 in Lexington, K...

06/15/2023

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues will enter a new phase in August.

Benjamin R. "Benjy" Hamm The University of Kentucky ’s Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which is dedicated to helping su...

06/01/2023

Urban places have many grade separations (overpasses/underpasses) to ease the crossing of railroad tracks. They're less common in rural areas. That's causing more problems as trains (and waits to cross) get longer.

Washington Post graph from Assn. of American Railroads data Longer trains are blocking rural vehicular traffic for longer waits, including b...

05/26/2023

Registration is open for the third National Summit on Journalism in Rural America, to be held July 7 in Lexington, Ky., and online. Here’s an outline of the program (still a work in progress) with a link to registration, which is free. There’s an optional dinner that evening, which has a fee. Space for in-person attendance is limited, so don’t delay!

How do rural communities sustain local journalism that supports democracy? That is the central question of the third National Summit on Jour...

05/14/2023

Hodding Carter III was a friend of rural journalism.

Hodding Carter III (2003 Associated Press photo by Susan Walsh) Hodding Carter III, a small-town editor-publisher who became best known as t...

05/04/2023

Here's a great opportunity for rural journalists!

Monday, May 8 is the deadline for rural jouralists to apply for free tuition at the Data Journalism Bootcamp of Investigative Reporters & Ed...