Pandemic spurred newspaper closures and mergers; U.S. is losing papers at the rate of two per week, report says

Labeled screenshot of Medill Local News Initiative map; for the interactive version with data, click here.

From late 2019 through May 2022, more than 360 U.S. newspapers closed, says a report today from researchers at Northwestern University, including one who has tracked the numbers for years.

Penelope Muse Abernathy, visiting professor at the Medill School of Journalism and principal author of the report, said at the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America June 3 that the number was about double what she expected. She said today that the losses are mainly in struggling communities, and were driven partly by the pandemic.

“I think it was an opportunity for many of the larger chains to say, you, know, this hasn’t been working and we have hit a precipitous point,” Abernathy said.

Most of the closed merged papers are weeklies, but "We are beginning to lose dailies," Abernathy said today. Many print or have electronic editions three or fewer times a week, "becoming the industry definition of a weekly." She counts 1,230 dailies now, down 16 percent from the 1,472 in 2004. In the 211 counties with no newspaper, only six have a digital journalistic replacement.

The trend "is further dividing the nation into wealthier, faster growing communities with access to local news, and struggling areas without," said a news release from Medill’s Local News Initiative. "Since 2005, the country has lost more than one-fourth of its newspapers and is on track to lose a third by 2025. . . . The United States continues to lose newspapers at a rate of two a week."

The report, “The State of Local News in 2022,” says more corporate and philanthropic funding helped create 64 new digital news sites covering state or local news, but most digital sites are in "digitally connected urban areas with diverse sources of funding," the report says.

About fifth of the U.S., 70 million Americans, live "in an area with no local news organizations, or one at risk, with only one local news outlet, and very limited access to critical news and information that can inform their everyday decisions and sustain grassroots democracy," the release says.

“This is a crisis for our democracy and our society,” Abernathy said in the release. “Invariably, the economically struggling, traditionally underserved communities that need local journalism the most are the very places where it is most difficult to sustain print or digital news organizations.” She noted research showing that, in places without strong news outlets, voter participation declines, corruption increases, misinformation spreads, political polarization increases trust in news media decreases.

"Surviving newspapers, especially dailies, have cut staff and circulation significantly under financial pressure," the release says. "This has sharply reduced their ability to provide news to communities that lose a weekly newspaper, further exacerbating an information gap not only in rural areas, but also in suburbs surrounding a city," the report says.

Large newspaper groups "continue to close or divest underperformers. The most active buyers in recent years have been privately held regional digital chains, such as Paxton Media Group and CherryRoad Media." CherryRoad has promised not to mine rural papers for profits.

The Medill Local News Initiative is a research and development project and website devoted to bolstering new business models. Its Subscriber Engagement Index helps newsrooms track digital subscribers, boost retention and attract new readers. It is run by Tim Franklin, senior associate dean of the school and its John M. Mutz Chair in Local News.

The report will be published on the Local News Initiative site through early August. This is the fifth update since Abernathy first published it at the University of North Carolina in 2016.