Emus Loose in Egnar: Big Stories from Small Towns [Hardcover]

Judy Muller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2011

At a time when mainstream news media are hemorrhaging and doomsayers are predicting the death of journalism, take heart: the First Amendment is alive and well in small towns across America. In Emus Loose in Egnar, award-winning journalist Judy Muller takes the reader on a grassroots tour of rural American newspapers, from an Indian reservation in Montana to the Alaska tundra to Martha’s Vineyard, and discovers that many weeklies are not just surviving, but thriving.

 

In these small towns, stories can range from club news to Klan news, from broken treaties to broken hearts, from banned books to escaped emus; they document the births, deaths, crimes, sports, and local shenanigans that might seem to matter only to those who live there. And yet, as this book shows us, these “little” stories create a mosaic of American life that tells us a great deal about who we are—what moves us, angers us, amuses us.

 

Filled with characters both quirky and courageous, the book is a heartening reminder that there is a different kind of “bottom line” in the hearts of journalists who keep churning out good stories, week after week, for the corniest of reasons: that our freedoms depend on it. Not that they would put it that way, necessarily. In the words of one editor in Colorado, “If we found a political official misusing taxpayer funds, we wouldn’t hesitate to nail him to a stump.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Emus Loose in Egnar is an] engaging account of local journalism outside the major urban hubs. Without the muscle of a big-city newspaper—or the benefit of working at arm's length from public officials and advertisers—the passionate lunatics who put out America's small-town weeklies labor to keep local politicians honest while coping with anger, threats, pleading, exhaustion, poverty and, often, instead of gratitude, cold shoulders from neighbors on the checkout line at the IGA."—Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal

(Daniel Akst Wall Street Journal 20110719)

"Very occasionally under threat of violence, more often facing social isolation or financial pressure, these rural journalists' devotion to truth-telling keeps the First Amendment alive and communities connected in grassroots America."—Kirkus

(Kirkus 20110515)

"Created and maintained by a stalwart breed of writers, editors, and publishers who are committed to their craft and its purpose, local newspapers may be struggling more than their big-city counterparts, but that just makes their David/Goliath personae more appealing. Doggedly traversing the country from Montana to Martha's Vineyard to spotlight the best of this bucolic bunch, Muller insightfully reveals the stories both large and small that divide and unite their readers, and profiles the dedicated individuals who even risk their lives to bring controversial issues and facts to light."—Carol Haggas, Booklist

(Carol Haggas Booklist 20110701)

"A read through this rather gentle, inquisitive look at small-town weekly newspapers could be beneficial to your health. It may even lower your big city blood pressure."—Jonathan Rickard, New York Journal of Books

(Jonathan Rickard New York Journal of Books 20110701)

"Spiced up with rich portraits of curmudgeons, quirky editors, and pugnacious reporters, Muller's compelling and endearing defense of small town journalism proves the value of thinking globally while writing locally."—Elizabeth Millard, ForeWord

(Elizabeth Millard ForeWord )

"Emus demonstrates that the best local journalism begins with community connection and knowledge—not just with a dateline—and is heavily dependent on those who lead it. No matter what the platform, journalism at this level can serve communities powerfully or fail them significantly. Muller makes us glad for the "hyperlocal" stalwarts who do things right."—Melanie Sill, Online Journalism Review

(Melanie Sill Online Journalism Review 20110829)

About the Author

Judy Muller is an associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California and is the author of Now This: Radio, Television, and the Real World. She is also an NPR commentator and has worked as a correspondent for ABC, CBS, and PBS, winning numerous Emmy awards and, in 2010, the prestigious Peabody Award. She began her career at a weekly newspaper in Freehold, New Jersey. She now resides in Los Angeles, California, and Norwood, Colorado. She prefers Norwood.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (July 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803230168
• ISBN-13: 978-0803230163
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #813,511 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Print Journalism is Alive and Well July 2, 2011

By Glenn Ossiander

Format:Hardcover

This just in: journalism is not dead. This is how Judy Muller opens her new book about the newspaper business in small town America.
Muller, a Peabody Award winning reporter, had become weary of hearing - and even contributing to - discussions about the demise of print journalism. She wanted to see if there was a bright spot anywhere in an otherwise dismal landscape. The author, who lives part of her time in the small town of Norwood, Colorado, is a reader of the Norwood Post. She saw that the Post filled a vital need and played an important role in the life of her tiny community. It occurred to her that there may be other papers with similar roles out there in the hinterlands. She set on a journey to find out. The result is her engaging new book, Emus Loose in Egnar: Big Stories from Small Towns.
The quirky title is explained in the course of her discovery that print journalism is, indeed, alive and well, even thriving in places like Boonville California, Huntington West Virginia, Dutch Harbor Alaska, Concrete Washington and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Muller spent time getting to know reporters, photographers, cartoonists, editorial writers, publishers, readers and even advertisers to uncover a rich tapestry of journalism in rural America. She focused on newspapers with circulations much smaller than the overruns of big city publications. A few of the more evocative mastheads include the Telluride Daily Planet, West Virginian Hillbilly, Canyon County Zephyr, Dutch Harbor Fisherman, Tundra Drums and my favorite, Original Briefs, from Hardin, Montana.
The lead story in Emus Loose in Egnar, is that, along with bread and butter accounts of births and deaths, marriages and high school sports, are stories as convoluted, complex and compelling as any on the nightly news. In fact, some of the stories on the nightly news originated from these blue highway dots on the map.
Muller also discovered that it often takes courage to publish the news in places where readers know the people being written about- in fact, may be the people being written about. They also know who did the writing. It's not easy reporting political intrigue, police blotter incidents and hot button issues when the reporter has breakfast at the same coffee counter as his subjects. To make matters worse, the owner of the coffee counter is likely to be an advertiser.
It all makes for great reading. And it is good to hear that journalism is alive and well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fine, Wonderful Argument Against the Vogue of the Death of Journalism October 28, 2011

By Michael Parrish

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Judy Muller's fine book is a witty and colorful reminder of my own family's history of producing local weekly newspapers. It is with great interest for me to learn how vibrant and useful local newspapers remain and, more important, thrive. Muller's delightful yarns play against the smugly adopted concept that traditional journalism is on the ropes. Telling people the news will never be out of fashion, nor will it be supplanted by personal blogs and opinions tossed off on a whim. Muller has not only detailed the struggles and triumphs of an extraordinary bunch of journalists, but she has, in the process, reminded us of what journalism is all about--why it matters to real people, and why it will be supported over the long run. People want to know what's going on. And journalists, whether reporting for a big newspaper, or working late at night to cover a story for the local paper, seem by all measures to be driven by an impulse that benefits us all. This is a great and heartwarming read.

4.0 out of 5 stars Helps to be a news nerd December 29, 2012

By H. Kozlowski

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Full of curious, serious, and less-than-serious examples of small town newspapers and the service they offer their communities. Some are funny. Some are deadly serious where publishers risk their lives for the truth. All in all an enjoyable read, especially if you work in the field.