Continued Expansion of the Multi-State Rural Health News Service

Since 2012, the Partnership has been piloting and researching the best way to expand the model, while effectively distributing columns to the local newspapers. Project staff have worked with publishers and editors to find the right column length, understand the type of material that is more likely to be published, and examine the reactions to the columns. Local papers struggle to decipher the complexities of national health care issues, usually having a small staff of general reporters, and rarely having a dedicated health care reporter who can provide unbiased, thoroughly researched and edited information. The columns distributed through this partnership are widely read and trusted by their readers and are vital in these local communities. The audience for this project is the readers of the small weekly and daily newspapers in rural areas. Some of these newspapers have a readership rate approaching 90 percent, and two of the partner states (Nebraska and South Dakota) are averaging around 70 percent participation from member papers.