Reporting on Contentious Issues
Rural Journalism Collective | Rural Assembly
Reporting on Contentious Issues in Rural Communities, recorded Dec. 12, 2024, features a discussion of the challenges + opportunities of covering tough issues in rural communities. Presented by The Rural Assembly and the Daily Yonder, the Rural Journalism Collective is open to everyone working in, or simply interested in, rural journalism. Our aim is to network, talk shop, share ideas, and uplift excellent work.
About this discussion: In a presidential election year, media attention is often focused on contentious issues as they play out on the national stage. This can lead to sweeping generalizations around the way rural communities feel about issues such as abortion access, natural resource management, school choice, even the programming at their public libraries. However, rural sentiments – and the conflicts that happen within rural communities – are often more nuanced than national narratives suggest.
Panelists include
• Nicholas Jacobs is an Assistant Professor of Government at Colby College. He is an expert on American politics and policymaking and has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on topics including American presidency, school segregation, tax reform, and economic inequity. He is one of the country’s leading experts on the rural-urban divide, federalism, and developments in the American party system. His latest book, Subverting the Republic: Donald J. Trump and the American Presidency, will be published in February 2025.
• Sarah Melotte is a staff writer at the Daily Yonder, an independent newsroom about rural America. Melotte started at the Yonder as a rural reporting fellow in 2021 while earning a master’s degree in applied geography and geospatial science. She now use her spatial analytical skills to do most of the Daily Yonder’s data reporting, map making, and data graphics.
• Natalia Alamdari is the Greater Nebraska reporter at the Flatwater Free Press, where she writes about all things rural. She covers everything from chaos on rural village boards to shady international nonprofits to election misinformation efforts straight from the heartland. Before moving to Nebraska, she covered education at the Delaware News Journal. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and a native Texan.