USC journalism students will spend two weeks at a hard-nosed, successful weekly newspaper in Oregon

One of America's best rural newspapers will be a laboratory for several journalism students from the University of Southern California this summer. USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism chose the Malheur Enterprise of Vale, Oregon, which has become known for hard-nosed reporting that generates community support.

"Next May about half a dozen journalism students will spend two weeks in Malheur County learning about rural journalism and writing for the Enterprise," in the second iteration of a course titled “Outside the Bubble: Rural Reporting,”  Yadira Lopez writes for the weekly paper. The first was at the San Juan Record in Utah where students and professors "reported on a court-ordered special election to overturn gerrymandering in the county." 

Judy Muller

Lopez reports, "The initiative was developed after journalism students at USC expressed frustration with the national media coverage of rural communities, explained Judy Muller, retired USC professor and journalist who helps with the rural program." Muller, a former ABC News correspondent, wrote Emus Loose in Egnar, a book about rural papers.

“Many of our students come from urban, liberal backgrounds,” Muller told the Enterprise in an email. “By embedding students in a rural area, working with the local newspaper, they can learn more from first hand experience in two weeks than we could possibly teach them in a classroom for a full semester.”