WVU gets grant for program to find and train potential new owners for rural newspapers that have no good successor

A foundation that focuses on West Virginia and adjoining regions has given West Virginia University a $125,000 grant to help rural and community journalism in the state by creating a pipeline to develop new owners of for community newspapers, some of whose aging owners have delayed retirement because they can't find a suitable buyer and don't want the paper to fold.

The grant from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, augmented by the WVU Foundation, will support a partnership between the Reed College of Media and the West Virginia Press Association "to recruit, develop and train the next generation of independent community newspaper owners," and help current publishers get their papers ready to sell, WVU says.

The idea developed after WVPA Executive Director Don Smith told College Dean Maryanne Reed that he had received many phone calls from long-time owners looking for someone to take over, Mark Jurkowitz wrote last year for Nieman Lab. The college hopes to launch the program this fall.

The three-year program aims to facilitate smooth transfers of ownership so newspapers can remain a strong presence in their communities, and will enroll potential new owners in a year-long fellowship at the college to help them learn more modern ways to run a newspaper. That includes learning about digital media, new funding models for media, and an internship at a West Virginia newspaper to learn about the everyday business of running a small, local paper.