'Radically Rural' report: Local news outlets feel the 'fake news' heat, are turning to transparency to trump Trump

A sign directed people to sessions on journalism.

By Al Cross
Director and Professor, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky

KEENE, N.H. – Local news outlets are feeling the heat from President Trump's attacks on the news media, a veteran journalist said at a journalism session of "Radically Rural," the annual small-town business symposium in southwestern New Hampshire.

"The president has a bully pulpit," and has popularized the term "fake news," said Kathy Kiely, a University of Missouri journalism professor who once covered Washington and presidential politics. She said local politicians are using the term "to deride and discredit local news media," and journalists, especially high-profile television journalists, "are being exposed to violence."

Keene Sentinel Executive Editor Paul Miller said he hasn't seen the phenomenon in the town of 24,000 and surrounding Cheshire County, total population 77,000, but "We have to acknowledge that that term has great resonance."

Miller said his paper tries to be "a noncombatant" when covering issues but participated in The Boston Globe's effort to get newspapers to run editorials in mid-August objecting to Trump's attacks. "Doing our jobs is no longer enough," he said, referring to the oft-repeated advice of Washington Post Editor Martin Baron, who also likes to say of his staff, "We're not at war, we're at work."

Miller said he wasn't sure how effective the editorial effort was. "Our focus is on trying to be a more open entity," he said. To that end, today the paper sponsored “Building Today’s Newspaper: You be the Editor!,” giving participants a say in how to play certain stories, and how to disseminate information online.

Newspapers "need to rebuild trust" with their communities, and not just for their own interest, but for their community's interest, Sentinel Publisher Terry Williams, an organizer of Radically Rural, said in opening the journalism session at Keene State College. "Robust news organizations in small communities continue to be essential measures of those communities' health," Williams said.

"Radically Rural" has five tracks. The journalism track was sponsored by Filtrine Inc., a local manufacturer. "Why is a manufacturing company interested in journalism?" asked President Peter Hansel. He said the Sentinel is "kind of a glue for the fabric of our society," and the company does have an interest in having a vibrant community to recruit and retain employees. "A vibrant newspaper is certainly a very important part of that."

For all the concern about Trump and transparency, Kiely said, "Donald Trump is not the biggest threat to journalism today. The biggest threat is commercial. . . . There is less money available for public-service journalism. . . . If we want credible journalism, we're going to have to pay for it." She cited the Institute for Rural Journalism's bumper sticker: "Support Democracy - Subscribe."