One in five Americans lived in rural areas in the year 2000. That’s 59 million souls, give or take, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Fifty-nine million people living, say the census folk, in clusters of 2,500 people or fewer.

So Greybull, Wyoming, population 1,800 or so, home of the Greybull Standard, is rural. So is Custer, South Dakota, population 1,860, where if you show up on Wednesdays you’ll get to read a fresh copy of the Custer County Chronicle.

And so is Belcourt, North Dakota, population 2,440, where listeners to KEYA-FM (“The Voice of the Turtle Mountains”) hear country music and programming from National Public Radio.

News happens in such places, and not just when a lunatic like the Unabomber is captured by the FBI (Lincoln, Montana, population 1,100). Sometimes the news is about how a community deals with a growing wolf population, or how it wrestles with drought, or what it plans to do now that its high school has too few students and must ring its final bell.

In Montana especially, where about two-thirds of our population is rural, these things matter. That’s why the School of Journalism at the University of Montana, this magazine’s host institution, has for so long worked to help rural journalists do their jobs, and to help rural residents get their news. In that spirit, this year’s issue of Montana Journalism Review features ideas important to rural journalism. In our section on rural news, you’ll find articles about successful business models for rural newspapers and radio stations; you’ll learn how a Central Asian country struggles to get news to its rural residents; you’ll read about the adventures an urban East Coast journalist had as she reported her way through Montana, as well as the adventures of a rural reporter trying to make sense of law, science, and bureaucracy while covering one of the West’s most controversial issues; and you’ll catch a glimpse into a new citizen journalism project intended to help rural communities replace newspapers they’ve lost.

This magazine, though filled with articles and photographs by professional journalists, was designed, edited, and created online by students at the University of Montana’s School of Journalism. Keith Graham, my colleague on the faculty, gave up precious summer days to guarantee this magazine's print edition would look good. This staff – and especially the managing editors – worked long hours, fixed many glitches, and learned much about the work necessary to produce a professional-quality magazine. I applaud their dedication and, on behalf of the School of Journalism, offer its appreciation for a job well done.

– Michael Downs