The Rural Blog's publisher wants to keep rural America a place where local news media fuel democracy for the future

Most daily joys like coffee and a newspaper (a physical paper or a digital subscription) take some cash. The Rural Blog is different. It provides rural news that you can look forward to reading, free of charge, almost five days a week. Sometimes it informs, encourages, or sheds light -- sprinkled with an opinion now and then -- on just about anything that's rural or has what we call rural resonance.  

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues publishes The Rural Blog. When Institute leadership looks at rural communities and their news media, a story emerges that needs immediate and consistent attention, nurturing, and funding. In the last 10 years, we have increasingly worked to help rural news outlets survive and serve, and our new focus is on the sustainability of rural journalism, threatened by newspaper closures that are spreading. More than 200 counties in the U.S. have no local paper, and many papers are "ghost newspapers" that fail to give their communities the news coverage they need. Many others struggle through adversity, but every month brings news of more closures or mergers.

Financial support for the viability of local news media not only helps their communities, but helps rural areas have a voice in our national direction. Giving to the Institute is an active way to support rural democracy. Our donors often leave comments; here are a few: "If you live in a rural place, journalist or citizen, you need this information. . . . I gave $200; good journalism is critical for our free society. . . . Excellent aggregator of critical rural news. . . . Rural journalism is critical if we are to have well-informed voters and engaged citizens. . . . I appreciate the caring conveyed in the articles."

We don't often ask for money, but today is "One Day for UK" at the University of Kentucky, where we are based, so we're being team players by asking you to make a donation that can help preserve rural news media and democracy. Your donation is tax-deductible. You can do it here.