Each year Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association present the Weatherford Awards. They honor books about the Appalachian South. The winner of the 2024 award for nonfiction is titled, This Book is Free and Yours to Keep. It consists largely of letters from incarcerated people across the region who corresponded with the Appalachian Prison Book Project. Ellen Skirvin is one of the book’s editors.
Our country’s divides often reveal themselves in our choices and habits, including how and where we get our information. As the economics of the media landscape have imploded, the economics of the industry have forced changes. In the past two decades, online sites have taken over much of the income stream from classified ads and general advertising. That has led newspapers and broadcasters to slash thousands of jobs. Many local news outlets have gone out of business and there are now more than 200 counties across the country with no source of local news.
One of those is McDowell County in West Virginia. Last year, publisher Missy Nester was forced to shut down the Welch Daily News after a valiant effort to keep the paper running. Join host Trey Kay and reporter Todd Melby on this episode of Us & Them to see what happens when local news organizations stop telling the stories of a community.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Pulitzer Center, the West Virginia Humanities Council and the CRC Foundation.
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Derek Tyson and Missy Nester on the back steps of the now shuttered building that housed The Welch News.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyDowntown Welch, West Virginia.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyBefore the Welch Daily News shut down operations, publisher Missy Nester bought another regional paper, the Pineville Independent-Herald for $1.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyMissy Nester, taking a break in the printing press room of The Welch News.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyMissy Nester kept a collection of coal-related books and pamphlets in her office, including some from the last century showing several dozen coal companies operating in McDowell County.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyThe Welch News closed down operations in March 2023.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyA discarded iMac rests on top of bound copies of The Welch News.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyThe Welch News hired drivers three days a week to deliver the paper to homes in nearly every holler, road and neighborhood in McDowell County.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyDerek Tyson and Missy Nester on a smoke break in the front office of The Welch News before the paper shut down in 2023.
Photo Credit: Todd MelbyUs & Them Host Trey Kay with Steve Waldman, co-founder of Report for America, which is modeled on Teach for America. Instead of bringing teachers to schools, Waldman’s focus is on bringing reporters to newsrooms around the nation. He’s currently the president of Rebuild Local News, a nonprofit dedicated to finding new ways to fund local journalism.
Photo Credit: Trey Kay/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Each year Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association present the Weatherford Awards. They honor books about the Appalachian South. The winner of the 2024 award for nonfiction is titled, This Book is Free and Yours to Keep. It consists largely of letters from incarcerated people across the region who corresponded with the Appalachian Prison Book Project. Ellen Skirvin is one of the book’s editors.
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