News Deserts

How we end local news deserts

There is no single solution. The problem requires a coordinated, multi-pronged approach. Here are some ideas.

August 30, 2022

Penelope Muse Abernathy

Meet the regional newspaper barons building large chains around the country

A handful of media organizations are aggressively buying daily and weekly newspapers in small and mid-sized markets without much fanfare.

July 13, 2022

Opinion | We are becoming a nation of local news haves and have nots

And the solutions we are pursuing may be locking in this divide.

July 6, 2022

An updated survey of US newspapers finds 360 more have closed since 2019

The authors deem it ‘a crisis for our democracy and our society,’ but offer an exploration of promising solutions.

June 29, 2022

In its fifth year, Report for America will attack news deserts in rural areas and support a broadened group of beats

The nonprofit program has partially funded roughly 300 journalists this year. That number will substantially expand, its co-founder says.

July 14, 2021

A quarter of all U.S. newspapers have died in 15 years, a new UNC news deserts study found

At least 1,800 communities that had a local news outlet in 2004 were without one at the beginning of 2020.

June 24, 2020

New data tracks how fast news deserts are spreading

News deserts are ominous to democracy, but how many there are and how fast they’re…

June 1, 2018

Across America, corporate ownership and closures are leading to vast ‘news deserts’

Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst and E. W. Scripps are out. Digital First Media, GateHouse…

October 17, 2016

Benjamin Mullin