Students in a sports writing class at Luck High School learned about the unique challenges and rewards of rural journalism and sports coverage on Thursday, Dec. 11, when two Inter-County Leader staff members visited. Editor Robert Tabern and senior reporter Sarah Beth Radomsky spoke to the class taught by physical education teacher Jessica Jacobson.
The visit was chronicled in a Dec. 17, 2025 article that appeared in the Inter-County Leader in Frederic. According to the article:
Their presentation included a 10-minute behind-the- scenes video from the Frederic office. The presentation focused on how a weekly newspaper is produced and highlighted the distinctive nature of covering local sports across multiple small communities.
Tabern, who has been editor for nearly four years, began his career operating cameras for high school sports broadcasts in Illinois. He later worked in TV news for ABC and NBC affiliated stations in Jonesboro, Ark., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Milwaukee, before joining the Inter-County Leader in 2022.
Radomsky described an unconventional path to journalism. After studying psychology, applied ethics, and social welfare, she worked in social services and had contract work, including in Kazakhstan, before joining the newspaper as a freelance “stringer.” Eventually, she became a full-time reporter while raising seven children.
The pair emphasized the newspaper’s role as the last cooperatively-owned paper in the US, founded decades ago when local farmers each contributed $5 to create a community-focused publication free from large corporate influence.
Students watched the video, narrated by business manager Richard Lee, that detailed the weeklong newspaper production process. It showed how story ideas arrive by email, phone, press release and police scanner. Weekly meetings determine coverage. Reporters gather information, write stories and submit them for multiple rounds of editing and proofreading. The video also highlighted pagination, plate-making, and printing, noting the two newspaper sections are printed on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Radomsky and Tabern outlined their sports coverage process, emphasizing the challenge of serving a wide rural region. They explained their reliance on a remote contributor to compile game statistics and write most sports stories, allowing local staff to provide in-person photography and captions for schools in communities like Luck, Frederic, Unity, St. Croix Falls, Webster, Siren, Amery, Osceola and Grantsburg.
Tabern also described partnerships with regional TV stations, which broaden the community sports coverage.
The journalists discussed evolving technology, including the cautious use and summarizing long meetings. They stressed the importance of human oversight to avoid errors or fabricated details. They also addressed ethics, such as balancing the public’s right to know with respect for privacy during emergencies, and the criticism that follows sensitive stories in small communities.
Students asked about handling deadline pressure, working irregular hours and dealing with public criticism. Radomsky advised developing “de-escalation skills” and empathy, noting that upset reactions often stem from personal hardship rather than the reporting itself.
The presentation concluded with encouragement for students interested in journalism to read widely in their chosen specialty and to consider the rewarding aspects of community-focused reporting in rural Wisconsin.
