Yonder Nation
According to Bill Bishop and Julie Ardery, information inequality between rural and urban America is widening into a canyon:
“Our cousins can’t buy a Dallas Morning News in San Angelo. It used to be delivered, but the paper has pulled out of rural Texas — just as the Louisville paper has closed its bureaus in rural Kentucky. Meanwhile, small-town weeklies are shrinking, too – fewer ads, skinnier editions, less news coverage.”
Enter The Daily Yonder, a recently launched online publication with a goal to “promote a vigorous and honest debate about the life, culture, and social issues of rural America.” The Yonder is produced by the Center for Rural Strategies, a group featured on this site back in 2003 for their efforts to stop CBS from creating “The Real Beverly Hillbillies.” The project has also received financial backing from organizations such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Initial response to the publication looks strong and the Daily Yonder has popped up on everything from the Daily Kos to small rural blogs.
I got involved with the Yonder project this past February, consulting on CMS decisions (they wisely chose Drupal) and doing the visual design. Congrats to Bill, Julie, and the Whitesburg group for launching such an urgently needed rural voice.
