The Small Town Network

As a journalist for a small town, rural newspaper, I see a lot of different dynamics amongst people in the area. I go to school board meetings and when the principals give their reports, the same names seem to stand out. The same students seem to be involved in everything. Everyone seems to know certain family's names.

When I listen to my coworkers talk about specific locations, they tend to say things like "the house down near John Turner's old place," instead of specific street addresses. As a girl from a suburb outside of Pittsburgh, I thought I knew my town well. Nope. The sense of familiarity this town shares is something that a transplanted journalist like myself can only pick up after years and years of living here.

It's difficult trying to do my best and get things crossed off my to-do list when I have to depend on so many people. When I write a story, I need sources. If I am writing a story about a national issue or trend, finding information is not a problem; however, when I'm trying to localize every issue and make it interesting for the small community— my audience — specific people are necessary for me to contact.

Usually, for my stories, I will need to speak to one or two very specific individuals. My stories are based off these people. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to contact and call one person for almost a week and the person never gets back to you. I have deadlines and people expect things from me. It's all out of my hands; I have no control over it. I can keep calling. I can continuously leave messages, but what good is it? My story is about how Pete Anderson wants to build a new shop in town and Mr. Anderson won't get back to me. Problem. It's a very frustrating process.

I look around at my coworkers and realize they don't have QUITE as difficult of a time with it all as I do because they know people. They need to contact Pete Anderson? Well, lucky for them, their kids play ball with Pete Anderson's nephew. They will just bug his sister when they see her at church. Networking has never been so important. In-person networking.

I say "in-person networking" because I just attended a workshop last week. There was a lot of emphasis on social media and social networking. I completely support social media. I love it, but in these rural towns, where most of my readers fall in the 40-90 age range, social media doesn't do me much good. I can post on my Twitter and Facebook all day long, but most of the [very small] population I write about doesn't even know what those websites are or how to use them.

I'm learning a lot from this job and this experience. The information I'm learning is stuff I could not learn in classes or workshops. I must force myself to figure out ways to contact people and force myself to get out there and find people. I have to be innovative. I have to call a lot of people and ask a lot of questions. I have to search phone books for numbers (yes, they still exist). I actually really hate it a lot of time, but I know that in the end it's good for me. It's making me grow, even though I tend to feel like a total failure when I can't seem to make anything work in my favor (I like controlling my own life; I struggle when things aren't working for me, and I have limited control over the situations).

Some people may think small town living is simple and easy. I disagree. Small towns have challenged me, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think I will be grateful for it later on.