On Saturday, May 5, 2007, 30 citizens from Dutton showed up at the Dutton-Brady School for a party to launch the new website, the Dutton Country Courier. Over hot dogs and hamburgers, a little catch and touch football, residents of rural Dutton, Montana celebrated a new beginning.
Six months later, the Rural News Network’s second site, CrowNews.net, burst on the scene, with content by, for and about tribal members of the Apsaalooke nation and residents of Crow Agency, Montana.
Keith Graham of the University of Montana says the journey to DuttonCC.org took many unexpected turns. “We changed our syllabus almost weekly as we kept figuring out how best to accomplish two goals – getting students an education in rural journalism and establishing a citizen journalism website.”
How did they do it?
- With one student assigned to the website – creating the template and placing stories, photographs, audio interviews and slideshows.
- One student working with a Dutton high school student on creating audio stories. (This student is now planning to come to the University of Montana to study journalism.)
- One student working with the Dutton high school coaches (their toughest assignment, according to Graham) to see if they would file reports at the end of each season.
- Two students working on picture stories about the town.
- One student working to get the mayor and librarian to contribute.
“The librarian has written two wonderful pieces,” says Graham. “She also recalls some of the history of the community. And she has a wonderful sensibility for story telling,”
The biggest struggle the project faced was distance. Dutton is a three-hour trip from campus and it was difficult to get students up there more than two or three times during the spring 2007 semester. The challenge will be even greater with Crow Agency, which is a six-hour drive away.
Five Native American students in broadcast news, photojournalism and print journalism are participating in CrowNews.net.
Graham plans to use some matching funds to cover travel expenses and purchase an inexpensive point-and-shoot digital camera and audio kit for the town.
Graham says in the process of launching Dutton Country Courier, he learned that students have to get involved quickly in a town, making connections with the residents. “It is important for the journalists of the next generation to learn what is vital to the rural communities of today. It is important to put in face time in your community. The townsfolk must get to know and trust you – a basic tenet in journalism.”
In its first week (November 2007), CrowNews.net posted a video about the community, coverage of a Lodge Grass homecoming football game, and a competition.
