Can rural newsrooms win over Gen Z?

Teri Finneman, professor of journalism, William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Kansas, and co-author of a study on Gen Z students’ attitudes toward rural journalism (Photo credit: Donnis Hueftle-Bullock)

Journalism schools need to do a better job of presenting the whole context of what journalism is. [And] not just a national context of what journalism is. We saw it among the Kansas students: 80% of them had not been taught about rural journalism in their classes at all. They had no idea what jobs were available. If you don’t know, you don’t know.”

Teri Finneman

Toto might not be in Kansas anymore, but future journalists are. For many, reporting in rural communities may seem as foreign as the Land of Oz. And young adults studying journalism face somewhat similar anxieties north of the border. 

Journalism Professor Teri Finneman of the University of Kansas and Instructor Tyler Nagel of Southern Alberta Institute of Technology surveyed 183 local mass communication students in their late teens to early 20s to determine how they felt about working in rural communities. Most remained open to the prospect but expressed concerns with “social life, salary, lack of belief in career advancement potential, remoteness from family members and lack of knowledge of jobs available.”

These findings follow Finneman’s previous research, which interviewed other journalism educators about the growing number of local news deserts. Both researchers hail from the rural journalism advocacy community. Finneman started the student-run Eudora Times after the local newspaper in Eudora, Kansas, a small town of around 6,000, shuttered. Nagel focuses his Ph.D. work on rural journalism issues.

Small-market newsrooms particularly struggle to recruit and retain qualified reporters, according to the researchers. So how can they attract recent Generation Z (Gen Z) journalism school graduates now entering the workforce? The study ultimately concluded that students need more exposure to rural journalism — specifically in the classroom.

“Journalism schools need to do a better job of presenting the whole context of what journalism is,” said Finneman. “[And] not just a national context of what journalism is. We saw it among the Kansas students: 80% of them had not been taught about rural journalism in their classes at all. They had no idea what jobs were available. If you don’t know, you don’t know.”

Even with a lower cost of living in rural areas, low pay kept coming up in the survey. American respondents faced specific financial concerns about student debt, but even their northern counterparts, who receive subsidized tuition and a generally more stable social safety net, cited salary concerns.

Canada currently faces a notable housing crisis. The province of Alberta boasts two major cities, Calgary and Edmonton, but rural communities make up much of the province.

“Especially for young people, the price of housing is particularly important. Because they’re perhaps considering moving out of their parents’ house, or they’re looking at moving from college accommodations into more independent living, and they’re finding it pretty hard to find a place to live that they can afford on an entry-level salary,” said Nagel.

For the Kansas-based American students, political stratification was a concern, particularly among students with diverse backgrounds — some indicated they would not feel welcome in rural communities, which they saw as more conservative. “That definitely came up and is a broader societal issue that is going to be too difficult for a single newspaper editor to handle on his [or her] own,” said Finneman.

However, she believes there are steps newsrooms can take. For one, modernizing job descriptions and communicating opportunities for younger journalists to grow into leadership roles. Finneman also suggests creating a network of young journalists to address social isolation. And the authors hope the next generation even considers taking over some of these rural papers as they struggle to develop a contingency plan under their aging publishers.

“I find Gen Z to be self-starters,” said Nagel. “In my classrooms today, I’m seeing a lot more enthusiasm and passion for doing journalism. Maybe just that breath of fresh air, or young blood, can really serve a role in kick-starting some new initiatives with a publication in a rural area.”

Tandy Lau is an award-winning journalist currently based in Jersey City. He currently works as a staff reporter covering public safety for the New York Amsterdam News in Harlem. He can be contacted at tandylau1995@gmail.com.