Rural Revenue Transformation Workshop draws rural news leaders together to generate ideas and put them into practice

Attendees work together in a session where they identified challenges and opportunities for new ideas to increase revenue for their rural publications. Photo by Kat Duncan News leaders from all over the country gathered this April at the Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) to tackle the revenue challenges facing rural news. The Rural Revenue Transformation Workshop provided a space for news leaders from Appalachia to Alaska to brainstorm innovative, actionable approaches to making news more sustainable. Attendees reported that the workshop came as a breath of fresh air; while the industry is deeply aware of the news desert crisis and its continued impact on news accessibility in the small and rural towns of America, conferences and other industry events can pose cost and transportation issues for rural news professionals and might not feature many presentations or products that specifically fit rural needs. For the Rural Revenue Transformation Workshop, RJI Director of Innovation Kat Duncan tried something different: a workshop built around the necessities of rural journalism and its audiences. Duncan prioritized attendees from organizations that were both geographically rural and not part of larger organizations that could help mitigate revenue issues. Hotel rooms and two meals a day were provided for all attendees, and some travel scholarships were awarded to make the workshop as accessible as possible. Amy McCleese Nichols lead a session on mixed-methods mapping for rural communities at the Rural Revenue Transformation Workshop. Photo by Kat Duncan “Rural news leaders shared with me how typical suggestions from conferences and training for revenue generation don’t work for them and how frustrating that is,” Duncan said. “They get told to build TikTok campaigns and galas, festivals and paywalls, when these options aren’t solutions for rural communities and their information leaders. I built this workshop to help them build solutions and support to reach their communities and a sustainable future.” "The news crisis ground zero is in rural and small-town America. We are far more likely to be news deserts. We're far more likely to be served by ghost papers. Understanding our unique challenges and finding a way to address them is really important." Corinne Colbert, co-founder, Athens County Independent That approach was much appreciated by attendees. … Organizer: Reynolds Journalism Institute — https://rjionline.org/news/rural-revenue-transformation-workshop-draws-rural-news-leaders-together-to-generate-ideas-and-put-them-into-practice/ Date taken from RJI's coverage of the event.

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