Perceptions of rural newspapers among Generation Z: Understanding resistance to small-town employment

Despite rural news facing workforce challenges, journalism schools have curricular gaps in exposing students to rural journalism. In a pilot study of mass communication students in the U.S. and Canada, students felt undereducated about rural news but were generally positive about the prospect. This study explores how journalism schools can play a pivotal role in solving the international rural news desert crisis, and how rural newsrooms can better appeal to the next generation of journalists.