Photo: Newspaper delivery boxes in Amsterdam, NY. By Tyler A. McNeil, from Wikimedia Commons
The decline of local newspapers accelerated so rapidly in 2023 that analysts now believe the U.S. will have lost one-third of the newspapers it had as of 2005 by the end of next year — rather than in 2025.
Why it matters: Most communities that lose a local newspaper in America usually do not get a replacement, even online.
By the numbers: There are roughly 6,000 newspapers left in America, down from 8,891 in 2005, according to a new report from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
• “We’re almost at a one-third loss now and we’ll certainly hit that pace next year,” said the report’s co-authors — Penelope Muse Abernathy, a visiting professor at Medill, and Sarah Stonbely, director of Medill’s State of Local News Project.
• Of the papers that still survive, a majority(4,790) publish weekly, not daily.
