Institute for Rural Journalism proposed for Appalachia

By DAVID GREER
Member Services Director

It began as one man’s concept. Then support came from a second and third. The University of Kentucky endorsed the idea and now the originators are seeking support from journalists for the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Affairs.

The concept is simple. Many metro daily newspapers have seen their circulation areas contract in recent years. As that has occurred, it’s left a journalism void that now must be filled by community newspapers. The idea is to help community newspapers in Central Appalachia do a better job covering the big issues that face the region – such as the coal industry, water problems, social conditions, public corruption and non-coal economic development.

Louisville Courier-Journal political reporter and columnist Al Cross shared his thoughts about the institute with those who attended last month’s KPA Summer Convention in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

“Like many dailies, The Courier-Journal’s circulation area has shrunk in recent years. Our staff won a Pulitzer prize for its coverage of strip mining in Eastern Kentucky in 1967, but you can’t buy the paper in Eastern Kentucky anymore, just like you can’t buy the Tennessean in much of Tennessee or the Raleigh News and Observer in western North Carolina,” Cross said. “These shrinking circulation areas have left a void that smaller newspapers need to fill.”

The institute’s goal, Cross said, is to serve as a catalyst for better understanding of public issues – such as coal, timber and water quality – so that community newspapers can make the most of their limited resources.

The idea originated with Rudy Abramson, an author/expert on Appalachia and retired senior staffer in the Washington bureau of the Los Angeles Times. Abramson then took the institute concept to Al Smith, former KPA president, Kentucky community newspaper publisher and longtime KET “Comment on Kentucky” moderator.

Together, they recruited Cross, who at the time was about to become national president of the Society of Professional Journalists. Cross, once a community newspaper editor himself and a longtime resident of rural Kentucky, embraced the concept. In the meantime, Smith took the idea to Lee Todd, the new president of the University of Kentucky. Todd immediately adopted it..

“That enabled UK to be the applicant for grants to get the project started, grants that nobody was going to make to an ad hock group of meddling journalists but they would make to an academic institution,” Cross said. So far, UK has received two grants – $30,000 from the Appalachian Regional Commission and $25,000 from SPJ’s Sigma Delta Chi Foundation.

Abramson, Smith and Cross believe the institute could apply to all of rural America but concluded they needed at first to concentrate on one well-defined area in terms of obtaining grant money and conducting research.

The decision was made to concentrate first on Central Appalachia, defined as all of West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, East Tennessee and western North Carolina. The need exists in the region and members of the committee have deep roots there, Cross said.

With metro dailies having a smaller presence in rural areas, the need is greater than ever for what Cross calls searching news coverage and pointed commentary.

“That’s the kind of reporting and commentary that we want the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Affairs to foster,” he said. “We don’t envision the institute as a training program in the fundamentals of journalism but as a catalyst for better understanding of policy problems and cooperative efforts so that community papers can make the most of their limited resources.”

Cross sees the institute offering short seminars , for example, geared to giving community editors background on regional problems. There might also be assistance from retired senior journalists, Cross said, who might guide or even edit regional coverage of topics such as education, economics and the environment.

Also, Cross said the group wants to established visiting professorships or lecture series so that leaders in the media, business, education and civic affairs could share their knowledge on issues with journalists who want to cover them.

A series of regional conferences collecting and sharing information on rural issues has already begun. A forum on water quality and the coal industry will be held this month in Charleston, W.Va.

Also on the agenda now is a mailed survey to publishers covering such topics as staffing, management, ownership, news content and other issues, Cross said. Personal follow-up surveys may also be conducted, he said.

To share your ideas on the institute with Cross, e-mail him at across@courier-journal.com.