Commentary

Starved For News: People In News Deserts Largely Rely On Non-Journalistic Sources

by Ray Schultz , Columnist, February 11, 2026

People who live in news deserts are finding their own ways to gain information — through social media feeds, influencers and family and friends, according to a new study by the Medill Local Initiative at Northwestern University.

Indeed, of those who follow the news daily in local news deserts, 51% …

consumer, local media, news, publishing, research, social media, television

1 comment about "Starved For News: People In News Deserts Largely Rely On Non-Journalistic Sources".

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Gordon Borrell from Borrell Associates, February 13, 2026 at 8:02 a.m.
While interesting, studies on so-called news deserts seem a bit print-biased and negate the fact that what qualifies as "news" in very small markets isn't really "journalism." Like someone's son achieving Eagle Scout, the high school football team winning the regional title. Sometimes that's really all the news that happens in a town of 4,000. When the last printed newspaper in a county shuts down, Northwestern and other schools declare it a news desert despite the fact that local radio stations still exist and that many of them have viable news operations with journalists. Quite a few even have news-only websites unbranded to the stations. In fact, the article cited in the Northwestern study talks about Dunn County, ND, as a news desert and never mentions https://www.newsdakota.com/category/news/, a standalone website with real journalists covering news throughout the region. In Nebraska, a dozen counties listed are considered news deserts, yet the Rural Radio Network https://ruralradio.com/rrn/ covers local and regional news for all of them.... again, with real journalists. These sites are not only popular (if thousands of Facebook followers are an indication), but also something that weekly newspapers are typically not: profitable.
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