Let’s face it: newspapers and journalism are on the decline. In a fast-paced, short-attention span world, there’s just no room for traditional media outlets or local papers. People are consuming news in different ways, with many getting their news solely from social media platforms. This shift has completely changed the journalism landscape and is decimating local newspapers, impacting communities and making it harder for people to stay up to date on local and national news.
Newspapers are on the decline
For many news outlets, local and national, print circulation is on the decline, and digital traffic has become hampered by generative A.I. and social media platforms. Just a couple of weeks ago, The Washington Post laid off over 300 employees after losing profits for too long. This is just a recent example of the countless news outlets that have conducted mass layoffs, merged with other companies, or shut down altogether. A 2024 report from Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative predicted that by the end of 2025, the U.S. will have lost one-third of its print newspapers over the past two decades.
Although major news organizations like The Washington Post have conducted mass layoffs and implemented major structural changes, they continue to run and report news. The same cannot be said for local newspapers. For Northwestern University’s 2025 news report, they estimated that almost 40% of all local U.S. newspapers have vanished, leaving 50 million Americans with limited or no access to a reliable source of local news. The local newspapers that haven’t closed their doors have immensely reduced their operations, cutting the amount of reporters in the newsroom from hundreds to just dozens and working out of rented office spaces instead of downtown buildings.
Johanna Dunaway, a professor and research director at Syracuse University, said, “The broad decline of local newspapers nationally is driven largely by plummeting revenue, as advertising moved online.”
As news moves online to websites and social media platforms, it is getting more costly and less profitable to run print publications. Additionally, print newspapers make a majority of their profits from the ads they run in their paper. However, with the rise of the internet, many advertisers have moved advertising online, as it is more effective and reaches a bigger audience. As a result, print publications are losing much of their profit to online sites.
While the cost of running a newspaper may be a big part of the reason local papers have had to shut their doors, another reason is a lack of buyers. A number of local newspaper publishers and owners are entering their ’70s or ’80s and are trying to sell their publication. The problem is that they can’t find anyone to take it over and are forced to shut it down when they can no longer run it themselves.
An article for Columbia Journalism Review chronicles a few of these instances, noting that small-town newspapers shutting down due to a lack of a succession plan is a growing problem in nearly a dozen states. And once local papers close, they hardly ever reopen.
The impact of local news
Reports show that in communities without a strong local news presence, voter participation declines, corruption increases, misinformation spreads, political polarization worsens and trust in media erodes. Without trained reporters to verify facts, provide context and deliver unbiased news, people are left to consume clickbait, misinformation and echo chambers that never challenge their opinions or offer different perspectives.
In today’s society, where misinformation and filter bubbles are everywhere, and politics affect everything people do, local news is more important than ever. It’s no coincidence that the mass loss of local newspapers has correlated with the current extremist and polarizing political landscape.
The loss of local news isn’t just a media story or a shift in the culture; it’s a threat to our democracy. From penny papers and muckrakers to the digital news world of today, journalism has always acted as a watchdog for society, reporting on government overreach and wrongdoing and holding those in power accountable.
Newspapers act as that central place where people get information about their community and learn what’s going on, both in their lives and in the world. They keep people informed, improve media literacy and are crucial to community identities. Without local journalism, communities lose their watchdog, their mirror and a little bit of their rights.