Agricultural publication with small staff does a three-part series on the rural opioid epidemic

The Rural Blog doesn't compile an annual list of the best rural journalism of the year past, because we don't have the resources to make a comprehensive review. But if were able to do one for 2017, we would likely include a three-part series on the rural opioid epidemic by Farm and Dairy, an agricultural newspaper based in eastern Ohio, that has three reporters. Chris Kick, Katy Mumaw and Catie Noyes spent nine months reporting on opioids in three rural Ohio and Pennsylvania counties in the paper's circulation area that have high rates of drug-overdose deaths. "Addiction: A Rural Reality" was edited by Aimee Tenzek and designed by art director David Hartong. A special web page, created by Tammy Reese and coordinated by Sara Welch, has stories and information not in the print edition, as well as audio and video. It's an ambitious piece of public-service journalism.

Editor Susan Crowell wrote in a column introducing the November series that it might be the most important thing she had done in her 30-plus years at the newspaper: "Some of you may think the subject of drug addiction doesn’t belong in the pages of Farm and Dairy. You read this newspaper because it shares the stories of farm families, of agriculture, of rural life — not to read about the opioid epidemic that litters the pages of your local daily newspaper. But I think you’re wrong. It’s exactly because we share the stories of farm families and of rural life that we can’t ignore the issue. We’re not immune to its ravages. We all need to know more about this problem that’s right in our midst, whether you live in a city or on a farm. We all need to fight stereotypes — that people with an addiction are low income, or the products of a single-parent home, or didn’t go to church when they were growing up, or any other false impression of someone who might be fighting a substance abuse battle." Crowell concluded, "Every life is worth saving."