Local news matters

WAYNE COUNTY, PA — These words are being written before the votes are counted. Whatever the outcome, it was a privilege to share portraits of some of the people and groups in our community engaged with this very fractious presidential campaign. 

For the last installment of The Hustings, we ask you to join us for a behind-the-scenes look as the staff of this local award-winning weekly works tirelessly to finish its coverage of the campaign.

(See a video of this week's photos here.)

The River Reporter is committed to community journalism. It aims to inspire and activate citizen engagement in local government as well as in all the activities and undertakings that are part of the character of this place we share together.

We are developing Voices of the Valley, which will spotlight members of our community who are rarely if ever in the media. 

We will hear and see some of their lives and their concerns.

Recently, the River Reporter was awarded a two-year, $100,000 grant through Press Forward, a nationwide movement to strengthen communities by invigorating local news.  The funding will be used for the development of a citizens’ news corps and a creative community engagement campaign to boost circulation and participation in civic affairs. Readers in Pennsylvania and New York can become news ambassadors, trained to provide factual information about government meetings in their townships, towns and communities. 

The paper is grateful for this substantial grant and thanks all the people near and far who generously contributed to funding The Hustings through the Local Media Foundation.

Let’s commit to the vision that as individuals and as a community we can transcend our divisions. That we can move ahead, agreeing to disagree as we share the common ground that is the bedrock of a democratic republic. 

Your community newspaper can help make that possible.

Please read the River Reporter in print and online. Subscribe, buy it at your local newsstand, or find it at your local library.

To make a tax-deductible contribution in support of this voter-engagement photo project, visit https://givebutter.com/riverreporter-the-hustings.