Nearly 2,000 people call Moundridge home, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Though social media platforms like Facebook allow individuals to connect, it is unlikely everyone is directly linked, especially as an increasing number of citizens actively avoid those platforms.
Yet, for a community to truly thrive, being plugged in is vital because it fosters social and civic engagement among residents.
This is why The Plains Pilot exists. It provides an avenue for connectivity that doesn’t require a fully charged battery or remembering yet another password.
It’s an analog respite from the noisy distractions of the digital world that provides a way to stay informed and bring people together with a common thread of information, which is vital for a strong social fabric.
Moundridge has been lucky. It has had a local newspaper in the past.
For quite some time, Robb and Martha Reeves owned The Ledger.
Then, in September 2018, Kansas Publishing Ventures out of Newton bought the weekly periodical.
Around the same time, KPV also purchased the McPherson News, another weekly paper that launched in June 2015.
Eventually, The Ledger and the McPherson News became the McPherson News-Ledger.
Then, in February 2023, Cherry Road Media, which owns The McPherson Sentinel, bought the News-Ledger and rolled it into the Sentinel.
In theory, the Sentinel still covers Moundridge, but it isn’t the same as having a news outlet dedicated to covering this portion of the plains.
And that’s the point.
No matter how big or small, rural towns need news that is professionally produced and vetted. Not just rumor-mill rubbish swirling around on social media.
Understanding the value of community journalism
Local media is the only place residents can get news that directly relates to their everyday lives.
Also, journalism exists as a key pillar of democracy, supporting the structure of our government.
This is why journalism is considered the Fourth Estate, right after the three branches of government.
The role of journalists is to provide a watchdog role of government and provide important information to the communities they serve.
All news is important in small communities.
Even the briefs sharing how “the Smith family got together with the Johnson family for a cookout” serve a purpose.
It may not be Earth-shattering information, but it keeps the community connected.
There is a social value to community newspapers.
The local newspaper is the lifeblood of a community. It gives the answers to the questions people are pondering.
Instead of trusting the likes of unreliable social media feeds, people can read the local newspaper and be confident about what is going on.
Local journalists are also part of the community.
They celebrate the collective wins and mourn the losses along with their neighbors. Journalists care and want what’s best for the town.
Sure, sometimes they may have to report on the negative happenings, but it isn’t something they look forward to.
It’s their job to keep people informed — good or bad.
If it is important to any segment of the audience, then it is worth reporting on.
Journalists must amplify local voices, especially those that otherwise might go unheard, and not cede that role to faceless social media algorithms.
The computer codes don’t know what is important. The journalists in the communities they serve do.
With an informed citizenry comes an engaged citizenry.
Civic engagement is crucial for communities. People need to take part in democracy.
Doing journalism in the community
How local journalism functions depends on the community being served.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for all communities, but there is always one solution that is the right size for each community.
Being deeply invested in Moundridge and small-town journalism as practitioners, educators and researchers, we at The Plains Pilot believe a great approach for this area is a freely distributed, monthly newspaper.
This is being supplemented by a website, a weekly email newsletter and a bi-weekly podcast.
A community the size of Moundridge has ample news. As history shows us, a weekly newspaper can find enough content within this area.
However, a monthly printed edition is ideal.
By being more intentional and focused, we can avoid filling a weekly newspaper with a bunch of pointless fluff just to fill the pages, and we know that would have to happen from time to time. It’s just the nature of things.
With a monthly publication, we can pack each edition with only high-impact, high-value information.
Then we can supplement our flagship publication with our digital offerings.
The website (plainspilot.com) will be a repository for all the coverage The Plains Pilot produces.
It will also allow us to provide up-to-date coverage of weekly events, such as high school athletic competitions, before providing full recaps in the monthly newspaper.
The weekly email newsletter—Plains Pilot Signal (plainspilotsignal.com)—will deliver reminders about what’s going on in town and suggestions for stories people might want to read. All folks have to do is sign up to receive the newsletter, and it will land in their inboxes each Friday.
And the bi-weekly podcast—Plains Pilot Radio (plainspilotradio.com)—will let people hear directly from their fellow community members through interviews and other audio reporting.
That might sound like a lot, and it is.
However, our goal is to meet people where they are and make news and information readily accessible via their preferred medium.
That is why we are offering the newspaper and all these supplementary products to the Moundridge community at no cost to the readers.
That means you don’t have to pay a subscription to receive the stories we write, though we are brainstorming ways people can support this work should they feel so inclined.
Our goal is to hand-deliver each issue of The Plains Pilot to your doorstep, or at least your driveway, each month.
We’ll also have stands around town where people can pick up a copy, but we intend to eliminate any barriers to receiving news and information about Moundridge and the surrounding areas.
That news and information will focus on local government and local events, ensuring that residents know how their tax dollars are being utilized and how they can get involved.
We’ll write feature stories about the people in our community so we get to know each other better, because everyone has a story to tell, and we’ll foster healthy public discourse by cultivating a robust opinion page where letters to the editor and columns provide a forum for respectful exchange of ideas.
By taking these steps, we can bring people together and chart a course for community connection.
Achieving community through journalism
For The Plains Pilot, that’s what success will look like.
As our slogan says, we plan on “charting a course for community connection.”
We want to be a catalyst for positive change in Moundridge.
We want people to be more informed and appreciate receiving The Plains Pilot in all its forms.
Of course, we’ll also consider it a success by staying in business and continuing to do journalism.
That will only be possible with the support of readers and advertisers.
If we can accomplish these goals and more, we will live up to our name—being a living “pilot” experiment for how community journalism can work and “piloting” residents of this plains town toward becoming a more engaged citizenry.
So thank you for embarking on this journey with us.
We are excited and honored to serve this community.
Together we can accomplish great things, and we look forward to your support and encouragement.
— The Plains Pilot
