One-third of US newspapers as of 2005 will be gone by 2024

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, as originally predicted. Most communities that lose a local newspaper do not get a replacement, even online. Over the past two years, newspapers continued to vanish at an average rate of more than two per week, leaving 204 U.S. counties, or 6.4%, without any local news outlet. Minorities and poorer people without access to high-speed broadband are far more likely to live in areas that are news deserts or at risk of becoming one. The counties at risk of becoming news deserts are primarily located in high poverty areas in the South or the Midwest, often ones with significant Black, Hispanic and Native American populations.