• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

The newspaper business continues to erode and news deserts are growing at an alarming rate, according to The State of Local News—The 2025 Report, a study from the Northwestern/Medill Local News Initiative

More than 130 newspapers have closed in the last 12 months. And 213 U.S. counties lack any local news source, up from 206 in the prior year and 150 in 2005.  

Overall, over 40% of all local U.S. newspapers are gone. And more than 50 million American consumers have limited or no access to local news. 

These deserts tend to be in poorer rural counties, with less well-educated populations. 

The median household income in news deserts is $61,610, and 16.30% of residents live under the poverty line. 

And, overall newspaper circulation has plummeted from a high in the 1970s. And there has been a 7% decline in jobs.

One positive note is that over 300 local news products have been launched in the past five years. Of those, 80% were digital-only.

Yet while there has been “some growth in stand-alone and network digital sites, these startups remain heavily centralized in urban areas, and they have not been appearing fast enough to offset the losses elsewhere,” the study notes. 

And the good news may be outweighed by another likely problem: Congress has voted to rescind more than $1 billion in funding for public radio and television that had been approved in a prior session. 

NPR and PBS may survive without it, but local stations could be at risk. None have shut down yet, but New Jersey PBS is closing next summer, and Katherine Maher, the CEO of NPR, figures that 70 to 80 could disappear. 

Those stations serve as important news sources for states and counties lacking newspapers. 

We’re headed for one big arid news wasteland.