A comprehensive new study released Monday by the University of North Carolina’s School of Media and Journalism shows that far more U.S. communities have totally lost news coverage — more than 1,300 — than previously known, writes Tom Stites.
About 20 percent of all metro and community newspapers in the United States — about 1,800 — have gone out of business or merged since 2004, when about 9,000 were being published.
Hundreds more have scaled back coverage so much that they’ve become what the researchers call “ghost newspapers.” Almost all other newspapers still publishing have also scaled back, just less drastically.
Meanwhile, online news sites and TV newsrooms are working hard to keep local coverage alive, but aren’t keeping up with the pace at which newspapers are shrinking, according to the American Press Institute.
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