Websites team up to boost rural journalism

NEW YORK — Several independent websites are joining forces to create a network for news about rural America, hoping to fill a void created in areas hit hard by the shrinking media industry of the past two decades.

The Rural News Network will begin early next year with collaborations on the economic problems of indigenous communities, and water and equity issues in the western U.S.

The network is being organized by the Institute for Nonprofit News, an organization that represents some 350 independent news sites across the country. Members range from well-known investigative sites like Propublica and the Center for Public Integrity to some that focus on particular communities or neighborhoods.

More than 60 sites cover rural issues or specific rural areas. The institute has seen how many of them are covering similar issues and thought that by working together, they could produce more powerful, impactful journalism, said Sue Cross, INN executive director and CEO.

Because they are wired into their communities and issues, these member news sites have an expertise that outsiders usually can’t match, said Bridget Thoreson, INN’S collaborations editor.

“This type of work is the antidote to parachute journalism,” Thoreson said.

The Daily Yonder, a Kentucky-based site that covers rural news from a national perspective, will run the Rural News Network together with Investigate Midwest, a site that focuses on agricultural issues and is based in Champaign, Illinois.

There’s no Rural News Network website, although that is under consideration. The 60-plus members will use the work on their individual sites, and INN will link to it on its own.

Tim Marema, editor of The Daily Yonder, is looking forward to the extra hands that collaborations can bring.

“We’re a mission-driven organization,” he said. “If you could make a profit doing this, somebody else would have been doing this a long time ago.”