Are You Aware? News from the Heartland
This is part IV in our “Rural America” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here.
It is almost a golden rule of campaign journalism: Find a small-town restaurant packed with white conservative voters, and ask what their hopes are for America. The restaurant patrons enthusiastically support the Republican candidate and bemoan the direction of our country and her values. After the pancakes are eaten and the coffee cups drained, the intrepid reporter books it back to the big city.
We watched this scenario play out in the election of 2016, where a majority of rural Americans voted for Trump, many of them expressing the thought that big cities and Washington, D.C., did not understand their plight. Of course, there is room for debate, and conspiracy theories do run on a loose leash in smaller communities, which can contribute to the distrust of government and the news media. But to be fair, major news organizations do not always understand small-town America, and very few have reporters who actually live in rural communities. Thus, we see the portrayal of rural and/or small-town America as an old relic, with an aging population and little diversity.
But rural America isn’t so cut and dried.
The decline of printed newspapers and news offices has impacted small-town America, leaving its stories untold. In so many ways, rural America has lost its voice. According to a 2018 report, “More than 500 of the 1,800 newspapers that have closed or merged since 2004 were in rural communities.” Rural America has become a news desert. With news offices closing, lack of solid internet infrastructure, insufficient educational opportunities, and rural misconceptions, rural Americans are often left out of important decisions that affect their way of life.
I live in a rural part of the country. My small town, and many like it, are tied to the land and her resources. In our case, the resource is oil. The closest large city is about two hours away, in the neighboring state. All the news stations are based in larger cities. We are fortunate to have a local newspaper that covers four small towns. I don’t have to tell you that the sports page is pretty big around here. “Friday night lights” is a real thing.
The area I live in produces enough oil revenues to cover at least a third of our state budget, yet we did not have a seat at the table for the oil moratorium discussions with the Biden administration. Admittedly, there are issues with gas and oil and their connection to environmental pressures that need to be discussed and debated. With any complicated issue, there are layers; but so often context is missing in the big city reporting. As you can imagine, the news stories from the big city are very different from the news stories in my hometown paper.
For example, our school system is building a multimillion-dollar trade school to help prepare students to work in the oilfields — to be “job ready” upon graduation. This plan recognizes that not everyone is a good fit for the traditional college experience. Yet there have been no discussions about the kinds of jobs that will be needed for wind, solar, or even nuclear power production. How are small communities supposed to plan for the future without any sort of infrastructure or details about the skills that will be needed?
There are also other challenges we see played out over and over throughout these small communities: Family farms being gobbled up by farm corporations, coal plants being shut down, and manufacturing plants being moved overseas. Many of the decisions that directly affect rural communities are being made without input from these communities. Rural America needs a seat at the table. We rely upon the news media to bring these stories and issues to the forefront.
My small town, and many others like it, are increasingly full of diversity and the melding of cultures and traditions, and their economic success is important to the communities themselves, their states, and the country.
This is where a strong and healthy news media comes in. We need journalists to tell our stories and to be well versed in the lives of all Americans, rural and urban. There is distrust of the media that lingers from the misinformation campaigns of the last four years, and that is compounded by the fact that far too many Americans feel the news does not reflect their lives.
There may be room to hope that things will improve. Although it is still early to tell how extensive the migration out of urban cities has been due to COVID, it is undeniable that there is renewed interest in the rural areas of America. Many adult children have moved back home because of lost jobs and wages, and many are working remotely. This may help reverse some of the trends of aging and loss of vital community workers, as well as increase the tax base and money circulating in the economy in these areas.
Journalist Sarah Smarsh and others like her have seen the need to highlight all that is good in rural America — and explore what can be done to help address the needs there. In her podcast Homecomers (full disclosure — I have not listened to all the episodes), Sarah interviews advocates and residents of these unique areas of our nation. Her guests bring up the importance of technology, culture, and growth in rural communities. They also discuss the need to protect and fight for the rural communities, where misconceptions about economic poverty lead political figures (and others) to simply ignore these areas, or encourage individuals to simply leave.
And we, too, can help! Our activity on social media, letters to the editor, opinion pieces, and involvement in local, state, and federal government can help shape the ideas and future of our nation.
We can help bring the lesser-known stories of America to the forefront and start discussions about topics that concern our families and communities.
Rural America is shrouded in idealism, nostalgia, and harmful myths. Too often, rural Americans’ needs, stories, and experiences are swept under the rug. Yet they provide so much of the industry that keeps America humming! Oil, farming, and ranching are just a few of the industries that are deeply dependent on rural American life. The people in these regions perform so much of the hard work that is vital to our country. Those who live and work in these areas are as diverse as America herself, and it is imperative that we make sure their voices are heard.
Jenny Rogers Moody is lead moderator for Mormon Women for Ethical Government’s Facebook discussion group.
