Beyond the big city: Rural journalists, role orientations and reimaginations of computational journalism

How does the entry of computation into newswork interplay with journalists’ role orientations? This study uncovers how journalists cultivate knowledge of computational newsgathering approaches within America’s smallest cities and towns. More narrowly, this study identifies the extent to which rural journalists embrace the normative watchdog ethos of newswork, given the influx of data- and code-driven approaches into news production. Through in-depth interviews with rural journalists in the American Midwest, the study finds while small town reporters aspire to leverage computational newsgathering approaches in fulfilling their self-perceived public service mission, practitioners are constrained by their own time, tools and talents to fully integrate these routines into day-to-day workflows. Taken together, these perceptual role orientation shifts around computational news production also interplay with how rural journalists see their role as public servants, as well as how they consider their attachments to the communities they call home.