How Many Local Outlets Are Left?
Nearly 8,400, according to the executive summary of Medill’s full report, which is the project’s fifth consecutive annual county-by-county survey (Medill report). Medill’s release uses the same figure (Medill release), but the report’s own landscape section says “nearly 8,500,” so the total is approximate. Newspapers make up nearly 65% of local outlets, and 84% of those are weeklies. Fewer than 900 daily print newspapers remain, and less than 15% of them still print seven days a week. This year Medill also folded ethnic and foreign-language outlets into the counts for each media type, which it says affects comparisons with earlier years.
Outlets (Medill’s rounded figures)
Values are the round numbers in the report’s executive summary, which it gives as “more than” or “nearly” approximations; its digital section says “a little more than 1,900.” The four rows add to about 8,300, consistent with the summary’s total of “nearly 8,400”. The report’s landscape section gives “nearly 8,500”. Ethnic and foreign-language outlets are now counted within these types.
The chart shows that print newspapers still outnumber every other kind of local outlet in Medill’s count by a wide margin, and they are also where most of the year’s losses occurred.
What Changed in a Year?
Three numbers moved. Closures: 170 newspapers closed or merged, which the report puts at “nearly three a week,” against about two a week in past years. The release says “about three per week,” and Poynter’s report on the study ran under the headline “Local newspaper closures have surged to more than three a week” (Poynter). Poynter also gives the prior year’s figure as 136. That number does not appear in Medill’s 2025 report, which counted 148 papers that “vanished due to closures or mergers,” and said more than 130 had shut down (Medill 2025 report).
Deserts: the count rose by 26 to 238 of the nation’s 3,144 counties, where the previous year added only six (Medill report and release). Sales: more than 425 papers changed hands in more than 150 transactions, compared with roughly 250 in 2025, a rise the release puts at 75%.
Zachary Metzger, director of the State of Local News Project and the report’s lead author, told Poynter that “the smaller regional papers in the middle — they’re at this really razor-thin level of precarity financially” (Poynter). Tim Franklin, the Medill professor who oversaw the report, said in the release that startups are welcome, “But their numbers are not coming close to replacing what’s being lost” (Medill release).
Why Did the Desert Count Jump?
The report names two events. In February, six papers in northwest Kansas owned by Lloyd Mullen merged into the regional High Plains News, and in June, Paddock Publications closed 13 papers in Illinois, many in the state’s rural southern tip, leaving a contiguous desert from Alexander to Edwards County (Medill report). Poynter gives the same two chains as the main cause. The report adds that less than 10% of the year’s newspaper losses came from the 10 largest owners, more than 40% came from private midsize chains and about a third from smaller independent owners. Metzger told Poynter that such owners often run into succession problems when an owner retires or dies. Nine of the new deserts were already on Medill’s Local News Watch List of more than 260 at-risk counties. We report this explanation as Medill and Poynter give it and have not tested it independently.
Is Local TV or Digital Filling the Gap?
Not by Medill’s count. The report’s first census of commercial TV news found 678 newsrooms, more than 95% of them in metropolitan counties, and including them removed just one county, Columbia County, Georgia, from the desert list. Franklin told Poynter: “Are people in news deserts watching TV news from cities? Yes. Do they see their communities covered? By and large, no.” Digital-only sites number a little more than 1,900, but just 9% are in rural counties and nearly 25 shut down in the past year (Medill report). Creators are a small part of local news so far: of close to 1,500 creators Medill reviewed, the report says less than 10% cover local issues about their community, and only two-thirds of those do original reporting. Medill’s release gives “roughly 7%.”
Is AI Part of the Traffic Story?
Possibly, the report says. Citing Comscore, it finds traffic to the largest local news sites down 50% since 2022. Of 100 of the largest local newspapers examined, just two showed statistically significant growth in monthly page views and 71 declined, and across more than 700 local news sites the average loss was nearly 30%. The report says the move of search engines and other services toward the AI “answer machine” model “may help to explain some of this traffic decline,” because readers see summaries and have less reason to visit. It does not measure how much of the decline AI accounts for. For how AI answers handle sourcing, see How Often Do AI Search Tools Cite the Wrong Source?
What This Means for Anyone Buying a Placement
These are our recommendations, not Medill’s findings. First, audit any local media list before using it: a paper that closed, merged, changed hands or cut its print days in the past year may still be on an old list, and the reporter may have gone with it. See How to Build a Media List and our earlier look at what McClatchy’s cuts mean for pitching a local paper. Second, expect fewer people per outlet: Medill reports newspaper employment down about 8% and journalists in digital publishing down more than 12%, so each remaining reporter covers more ground; see How Many Pitches Does a Journalist Get? Third, in rural and smaller-market areas, where Medill finds the losses concentrated, a company with a local story may have no local professional outlet to pitch. Fourth, do not fill the gap with paid placement presented as news. A sponsored article or paid local feature is advertising, must be labeled as such, and is not editorial coverage; our guide to how paid content must be labelled covers the rules. No outlet, paid or earned, can promise audience or search outcomes.
Methodology and Limitations
Four limits apply. First, all counts are Medill’s, and its definition of a news desert (no locally based professional news source) shapes them; we did not audit its database. Second, Medill’s pages disagree in places. We use the full report’s figures and note where the release differs: more than 1,400 single-source counties in the report against “nearly 1,500” in the release, less than 10% of creators covering local issues against “roughly 7%,” and “nearly three a week” against “about three per week.” The report itself gives both “nearly 8,400” and “nearly 8,500” total outlets; we use 8,400, which matches its executive summary, its chart rows and the release. Third, Poynter’s prior-year closure figure of 136 is attributed to Poynter, because Medill’s 2025 report gives 148 closures or mergers. Fourth, none of this tells a company whether any particular outlet will cover it.
Conclusion
By Medill’s count, the local press shrank faster this year and the losses fell hardest where outlets were already thin. For a company or communications lead, that makes a checked, current media list worth more than a long one, and it raises the bar on any claim that a local placement will reach a local audience.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many news-desert counties does Medill count in 2026?
Medill counts 238 counties with no locally based professional news source, up 26 from its 2025 count of 212, according to its October 13, 2026 report.
How many newspapers closed in the past year?
Medill reports 170 newspapers closed or merged, at a rate of nearly three a week. Poynter gives the prior year as 136; Medill's own 2025 report counted 148 closures or mergers.
How many Americans have limited or no access to local news?
Medill's report says nearly 47 million Americans live in news deserts or in counties with only one local news source.
Are new local news startups replacing the lost outlets?
Not yet, by Medill's count. It reports 75 startups since the start of 2025 and 287 over five years, mostly urban, and Tim Franklin said "their numbers are not coming close to replacing what's being lost."
What should I check before pitching a local paper?
Our recommendation: confirm the outlet is still publishing, who owns it, how often it prints and that the reporter you plan to contact still works there.
Does a paid article in a local paper count as news coverage?
No. A paid article or sponsored feature is advertising and should be labeled as such. This is not legal advice.
Sources
This report is built from Medill's State of Local News 2026 report and release, Medill's 2025 report and Poynter's coverage, all read on October 17, 2026. Pitching and list-audit advice is ours. We did not request data from Medill or check any outlet's status.
- research Medill Local News Initiative, Northwestern University, The State of Local News: 2026 Report, October 13, 2026. Supports outlet counts, closures, sales, deserts, employment, TV, startups, creators, traffic and the AI passage. Read October 17, 2026.
- press release Medill, Local news deserts skyrocket as newspaper closures escalate, even as startups emerge, Medill study shows, October 13, 2026. Supports the 238 count, the 3,144 base, the 75% sales rise, the release's differing figures and the Franklin “not coming close” quote. Read October 17, 2026.
- trade press Poynter (Angela Fu), Local newspaper closures have surged to more than three a week, October 13, 2026. Supports the prior-year figure of 136, the two-chain explanation, report authorship and the Metzger and Franklin “by and large, no” quotes. Read October 17, 2026.
- research Medill Local News Initiative, The State of Local News: 2025 Report. Supports the 2025 desert count of 212 and 148 closures or mergers. Read October 17, 2026.