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Changing Landscape for Rural Iowa Newspapers

Ellk Horn, Iowa is home to the Danish Immigrant Museum

Elk Horn Pastor Keith Menter couldn’t let his town go without some sort of news source.

So when his community's newspaper announced they would stop publishing in December, he decided to do something about it.

“I’ve been a pastor here for ten years. I’ve done more than 120 funerals and have watched the town dwindle. There used to be three car dealerships, three grocery stores, a clothing store, an implement dealership… all of that is gone now.”

Menter is now starting the Danish Villages News Facebook page, a community journalism experiment, to try to replace the paper. During this River to River interview, host Ben Stanton talks with Menter and Linda Goos, editor of the page.

Doug Burns, co-owner Herald Publishing Company and helps manage several community newspapers in West Central Iowa, and Jake Krob, who owns the Mt. Vernon-Lisbon Sun also joins the conversation. 

Lindsey Moon is IPR's Senior Digital Producer