Community journalism principles still apply in digital age, Institute director says in national journal

The director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and several other well-known journalism scholars join together in the latest issue of Nieman Reports from Harvard University to address the impact of digital tools on people's sense of community. Al Cross, the publisher of The Rural Blog, specifically addresses the impact of the digital age on community journalism.

Chris Evans, editor and publisher,
The Crittenden Press, Marion, Ky.

Cross says the basic principles of community journalism remain unchanged. He writes of Tom and Pat Gish of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., revealing "mutual respect they had with their readers" as key to their "ability to keep going for more than 50 years in the face of economic boycotts, personal shunning, and even a firebombing by a local policeman" as they "crusaded against the abuses of coal companies and feckless or corrupt officials."

Digital media presents community journalism with new challenges, "some so fundamental that they are altering the meaning of the word 'community'," Cross writes. He suggests community journalists "use social media to maintain and improve contact with community members and weekly newspapers use Facebook to keep readers up to date on breaking news, sports scores, and other topics of daily community interest."

"Our task is to be in a position to provide credible information in whatever form people what it in," Chris Evans, editor and publisher of The Crittenden Press in Western Kentucky, told Cross. "You've got to embrace technology, understand where your audience is at, and get there — and the credibility you have will draw people back to you." (Read more)