The time and effort it takes to stay up-to-date on news of the state of Kentucky is best conveyed in a fairytale. Given the state of the media, think Hansel and Gretel randomly scattering breadcrumbs, making it difficult to find the way home.
Shedding light – and heat – on statewide news, The Kentucky Lantern is an independent, nonpartisan, free news service. According to the website, the Lantern “is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit, coast-to-coast network of journalists that works to fill gaps in state government reporting caused by the declining numbers of state and local journalists.”
On a recent visit to the Lantern homepage, viewers were greeted by an arresting image of a rockslide in an abandoned limestone quarry along the Kentucky River, resulting in a closed road. Although the specific location of the mess is in Frankfort, its implications ripple in every direction, reminders of other impending environmental challenges around the state.
Shining a light on four areas that impact the lives of Kentuckians, no matter where they live, the Lantern raises questions and explores issues associated with the environment, the economy, government, and health.
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Click on “environment” and the Franklin County issue is showcased, along with a situation near the Wolfe-Lee County line in Eastern Kentucky, where a Houston-based company is running a new data center that emits a constant, “high-pitched, persistent whirring,” according to reporting by Liam Niemeyer.
“Residents near the facility have been aggravated by the unabated din in recent weeks and worry about the noise’s impacts on wildlife in particular,” the story continues.
Moving on to the government tab of the Lantern takes readers to Paducah, in western Kentucky, where a debate between gubernatorial candidates Andy Beshear and Daniel Cameron attracted an audience of 600. Hosted by the Paducah Area Chamber of Commerce, the debate took a regional focus on business and the economy, but also featured the jabs each candidates’ campaign has taken in TV and online ads.
Free to read without paywalls or subscription fees, the Lantern’s content is free for others to publish, as long as they cite it as the source and include a link to their site.
From Pikeville to Paducah, Florence to Franklin, the Lantern aspires to cover the state.
On a regional level but with statewide connections, the Northern Kentucky Tribune provides another path to the news through the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism. The Center is committed to helping communities across the state who do not have reliable sources of local news to establish them, using a nonprofit, online model. The NKy Tribune, which launched in January 2015, is the first project established by the Center.
In western Kentucky, the Hoptown Chronicle adheres to its mission of providing fact-based reporting that gives local people information they need to make good decisions about Hopkinsville and Christian County. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit news outlet, it is committed to covering issues that are often overlooked or misunderstood in the community.
Focused on local government, the Chronicle is particularly interested in areas that, according to the website, “affect downtown business and development.” In addition, the site features information the radiates from local, to regional, statewide, and even the national front.
A recent column by Al Cross, director emeritus of the Institute for Rural Journalism and the longest-serving political writer for the Louisville Courier Journal, analyzed the impact of concerns about Mitch McConnell’s health, balanced against the lawmaker’s legacy. The issue, of interest around the state, is also a topic of national importance.
At the local level, Murray is wading into the hyper-local news pool with the Murray Sentinel, a “budding independent newsroom…dedicated to covering issues of value and relevance to the residents of Calloway County.”
Each of these news outlets lights the way to an informed citizenry.
The message to the people of Kentucky is that being informed and understanding local, regional, and state news is no longer simply a matter of a single newspaper appearing, as if by magic, in the driveway every morning before dawn. That may have been true once upon a time, but today the onus is on readers, citizens, voters, the enchanted and disenchanted, who are challenged to pitch in and pay the piper for crucial news from multiple, reliable sources.
Like the breadcrumbs in Little Red Riding Hood, news is scattered hither and yon, available in bits and pieces from various sources. As local and regional papers flounder and disappear, it is essential for people who care to become familiar with nonprofit sources of news — to follow them and contribute to them. Without that support, there is no happily ever after.
No news is not good news. In the end, it is no news at all.
This column is republished with permission from the Northern Kentucky Tribune. Read the original.
Constance Alexander is a columnist, award-winning poet and playwright, and President of INTEXCommunications in Murray. She is a board member for Hoptown Chronicle.
