The number of communities with no local news coverage is expanding as more than 100 newspapers shut down this year, leaving millions of people in a news desert.
The nation has lost more than one-third of its print newspapers -- roughly 3,300 papers -- since 2005, according to a new study from Northwestern University. In the past 12 months alone, 127 newspapers have closed. That's an average of two-and-a-half newspapers closing every week, leaving nearly 55 million Americans with limited to no access to local news.
"In addition to these closures and mergers, papers are reducing their print coverage, including shifting from dailies to weeklies or ending print publishing altogether," the Medill State of Local News Report 2024 noted. "A little fewer than 5,600 newspapers remain, 80% of which are weeklies."
As a result of the losses, the number of news deserts -- counties without any locally based source of local news -- rose to 208, up from 204 last year. The number of counties with only one news source also rose to 1,563.
All totaled, it means more than half of the nation's 3,143 counties have little to no local news. See the map.
"This research shows that the crisis in local news is deepening, and fewer Americans have access to news they need about their communities to be informed citizens," Tim Franklin, director of the Medill Local News Initiative, said in a statement.
The report notes that three-quarters of news deserts are in rural areas and share many common characteristics: residents tend to be poorer, older and less well educated than the national averages, and the populations are smaller and less dense than average.
Newsroom jobs are also vanishing, with more than 7,000 newspaper jobs lost between 2022 and 2023, compared to a few hundred the year before. With a shrinking staff to cover local goings-on, many outlets now recirculate articles, stories and headlines from other outlets within a larger chain, such as an adjacent metro publication or a national wire service.
Meantime, the report noted a "furious pace of mergers and acquisitions is underway, as many longtime newspaper owners bail, and regional chains capitalize on opportunities." According to the data, the number of newspaper mergers and acquisitions skyrocketed 43% this year, with 258 papers changing hands in 75 transactions. Smaller and newer chains, including Carpenter Media Group, are leading the acquisition surge, per the report.
Researchers did discover some reasons for optimism: There's been a net increase of more than 80 stand-alone local digital news sites in the past year. The report notes that the gain, however, includes 30 newspapers that converted from print to digital. Also, nearly 90% of them are in metro areas, not in hard-hit rural counties.
As part of the report, researchers established a "Watch List" of counties at high risk of losing local news. The list has grown to include 279 counties across 32 states, up from 228 last year. That's a 22% increase.
"The gulf between journalism haves and have-nots is continuing to grow. Yet there remains a strong desire for original local reporting," Zach Metzger, director of the Medill State of Local News Project, said in a statement. "The need now is to match that desire with support, investment and policy."