The Rural News Network launched the first of its town sites in March 2007 in Dutton, Montana, an agricultural community of about 375. Some of the first content on the Dutton Country Courier (duttoncc.org) was co-authored by pairing a University of Montana journalism student with a citizen journalist.
A natural for the launch’s lead story was the change in ownership of the Cafe Dutton, the town’s restaurant and main gathering place since 1954. To write about it, grad student Mary Hudetz paired up with Bev Pedersen, who was retiring after owning the cafe with her husband for more than 20 years. Pedersen kept notes from her final days as owner of Cafe Dutton before selling it and offered some history of the watering hole.
Now the site has a couple of regular columns: “Jean’s Book Ends” from the town’s librarian, and “From the Mayor’s Desk,” written by Dutton Mayor Susan Fleshman. The site has audio interviews, slide shows and photos that are uploaded to Flickr.
Through the spring semester, the project leaders assigned students to develop story ideas and find a Dutton resident to work with them in producing the story. Co-authoring pieces, “gives [authors] confidence to publish,” project director Keith Graham advised at a March New Voices meeting.
And they are seeking more Dutton citizens to be consistent site contributors.
“We really struggled with whether or not to train these people how to do journalism,” Graham said. “We came to the conclusion that we really don’t have to.”
For the fall, RNN will move to a second town. The top choice is Crow Agency, at the heart of the Crow Reservation. This effort will be led by a Native American graduate student who is returning to class. Graham reported that he is excited at the prospect of having, “an intriguing Native American town to pursue.”
RNN is discussing other possible towns for inclusion in the network. One possibility is the town of Wisdom, which is in cattle ranching country and “is home to a fine trout stream,” Graham said. Other possibilities are in the northwest portion of the state.
