News-desert growth exposed local journalism’s geographic gap

Northwestern’s Medill school reported on October 13, 2026, that 238 U.S. counties lacked a locally based professional news source, 26 more than a year earlier. It counted 170 newspapers that closed or merged. These are different measures: a lost newspaper does not automatically create a county without another reporting institution. ^[1]

The preceding report, published October 20, 2025, counted 212 news-desert counties, up from 206. That six-county increase places the subsequent jump in perspective. The project’s first report appeared in 2016 and looked back to 2005. Its history documents a long erosion, while the later figures indicate an acceleration rather than a newly discovered problem. ^[2]

The geography explains why digital growth could coexist with those losses. The 2026 report counted more than 1,900 digital-only outlets, but just 9% were in rural counties. It described smaller communities losing papers while lacking financial and broadband resources for replacements. A growing national total therefore does not establish that a community losing its paper gained a working substitute. ^[3]

The count also depends on what qualifies. Medill reviewed original local coverage, excluding aggregators, message boards and AI content farms from its digital-network database. For commercial television it grouped stations sharing news production into newsrooms, placed at their main studios. A county classification thus concerns a locally based source; it does not inventory every outside broadcast residents can receive. ^[4]

Changes in classification complicate comparisons of outlet totals. In 2026, Medill folded its formerly separate ethnic-media list into the relevant newspaper, digital and television categories, retaining an indicator for researchers. Those outlets were being recognized within the main counts, rather than all newly opening. Comparing totals across editions requires checking that category change. ^[4]

Television provided a useful test of the replacement question. The school’s first commercial-TV census counted 678 newsrooms, mostly in larger markets, and said their addition barely changed the desert total. For readers assessing local information, the question extends beyond whether a channel or website exists: where is original local journalism actually produced? ^[1]

About this item: Retrospective report. No first-hand reporting or independent testing is claimed. Corrections policy.