What Is a News Desert?

Local journalism plays a role that is easy to overlook until it disappears. A reporter attending a town council meeting, investigating a local environmental issue, covering a school board decision, or reporting on a community emergency can provide information that national media cannot easily replace.

When that local reporting disappears, communities can be left with little or no consistent coverage of the issues affecting their daily lives. This is known as a news desert.

The term has become increasingly important as newspapers close, newsrooms shrink, and local media organizations struggle with declining advertising revenue, changing audience habits, and increasing competition from digital platforms.

But what exactly is a news desert, why do they develop, and what can journalists and communities do about them?

What is a news desert?

A news desert is an area where residents have little or no access to consistent, locally focused journalism.

There is no single definition used worldwide. In the United States, for example, the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University identifies news deserts as counties without a locally based source of local news. It also tracks communities with only one remaining local news source because they can be particularly vulnerable if that outlet closes.

According to Medill’s 2025 State of Local News report, the United States had 212 counties without any locally based news source, while another 1,525 counties had only one local news source remaining. Together, these counties represented almost 50 million people with limited or no access to local news.

The concept is not limited to the United States. UNESCO has identified the growth of news deserts as part of a wider global challenge facing journalism, while research and reporting from countries across Latin America, Europe, and elsewhere show that the decline of local media can affect communities in very different ways.

Importantly, a news desert does not necessarily mean that people receive no news at all. Residents may still have access to national television, international newspapers, social media, influencers, or government communication channels. The problem is the lack of reliable, independent reporting focused on what is happening locally.

Why do news deserts happen?

There is rarely one reason why a community becomes a news desert. Instead, several pressures can combine.

1. The decline of the local newspaper

For decades, newspapers were a major source of local reporting. They employed journalists who covered municipal governments, courts, schools, businesses, sports, culture, and community events.

As print advertising declined and audiences moved online, many newspapers experienced significant financial pressure. Some closed entirely, while others reduced their publication frequency, cut newsroom staff, or consolidated operations.

Medill’s 2025 research recorded 136 newspaper closures in the United States during the previous year, more than two per week. The report also found that newspaper employment had fallen by more than three-quarters since 2005.

When a newsroom disappears, the community does not simply lose a publication. It can lose the reporters and institutional knowledge responsible for monitoring local institutions.

2. Difficult economics

Local journalism can be particularly difficult to sustain financially.

Smaller communities may have limited advertising markets and fewer potential subscribers. At the same time, producing original reporting requires journalists, editors, technology, transportation, and time.

The shift toward digital advertising has also changed the business model for news organizations. UNESCO has highlighted the broader decline in newspaper advertising revenue and the resulting pressure on journalism as a public good.

This creates a difficult cycle: fewer resources mean less coverage, less coverage can reduce audience engagement, and reduced audience engagement can make it harder to generate sustainable revenue.

3. Rural and geographically isolated communities

News deserts can be particularly common in rural and sparsely populated areas.

Covering a remote community can require significant travel and infrastructure. If a media organization cannot generate enough revenue to support a reporter there, coverage may become centralized in a larger nearby city.

This can leave smaller communities technically within the geographic reach of a media organization while receiving little reporting specifically about their own concerns.

Recent research from Spain illustrates that news deserts can also emerge in rural areas affected by depopulation. A 2025 study examining 721 rural municipalities in Castilla-La Mancha explored how local digital media can act as a form of communicative resilience in areas at risk of becoming news deserts.

4. The concentration of media ownership

When local outlets are acquired, merged, or placed within larger networks, reporting can become increasingly centralized.

A single newsroom may be expected to cover multiple communities with fewer journalists. This can reduce the amount of original reporting available for each individual area.

The result is not always a complete absence of news. Sometimes the problem is thin coverage: a community technically has a news outlet, but there are too few journalists to consistently report on the issues residents need to know about.

Recent academic research has therefore argued that news deserts should be understood not only as places without news organizations, but also as places where local information is fragmented, inconsistent, or unevenly distributed.

Why are news deserts a problem?

Local journalism provides information that national and international media often cannot.

A national outlet might report on a country’s education policy. A local reporter can explain how that policy affects a particular school district.

A national newspaper may report on a country’s housing crisis. A local newsroom can investigate changes to rents, zoning decisions, development projects, or housing conditions in a specific neighborhood.

This local focus matters for several reasons.

Accountability

Local journalists can monitor institutions that directly affect people’s everyday lives, including municipal governments, schools, courts, police departments, and public agencies.

When fewer journalists are available to scrutinize these institutions, important information may receive less independent attention.

Research published in Scientific Reports has linked the disappearance of local newspapers with changes in civic engagement, political knowledge, and accountability, although the effects can vary between communities.

Civic participation

People need reliable information to participate meaningfully in their communities.

Research reviewed in Political Science Quarterly has examined the relationship between local journalism and political engagement, while a 2025 study of local news in seven UK areas found that declining local news provision raised concerns about democratic participation and community life.

The relationship is complex, and local news alone cannot determine whether people participate in civic life. But consistent local reporting can provide information that makes participation possible.

Community connection

Local journalism is also about more than politics.

It can tell people about local cultural events, schools, community organizations, businesses, sports, public services, and the experiences of their neighbors.

When local coverage disappears, residents may know what is happening nationally while knowing much less about what is happening immediately around them.

UNESCO has similarly emphasized the connection between local journalism, trustworthy information, and civic engagement.

Does social media fill the gap?

Social media can help communities exchange information when traditional local outlets disappear. Residents can share updates, eyewitness accounts, community announcements, and emergency information directly with one another.

But social media is not necessarily a replacement for professional local journalism.

A social media post does not automatically provide verification, context, source transparency, or independent scrutiny.

Research published in Scientific Reports in 2024 found that people living in U.S. news deserts consumed more national news than people in areas with local media, while finding little evidence that they were simply consuming more low-quality websites.

This is an important distinction: a news desert is not necessarily an information desert. People can still encounter enormous amounts of information. What may be missing is consistent, professionally produced reporting about their own communities.

Can a news desert be reversed?

News deserts are not necessarily permanent.

Medill’s 2025 report identified more than 300 local news startups launched over the previous five years, around 80% of which were digital-only outlets. However, the report also found that many of these new organizations were concentrated in metropolitan areas, meaning that the communities most vulnerable to becoming news deserts may not always benefit equally from the growth of digital news.

Different approaches can help strengthen local journalism, including:

  • Digital-first local newsrooms that operate with lower overhead than traditional print organizations.
  • Nonprofit journalism, supported by donations, foundations, memberships, or grants, a sector that grew notably in 2024, with local outlets now the largest share of nonprofit newsrooms in North America.
  • Community-supported journalism, where residents contribute financially to sustain local reporting.
  • Collaborations between news organizations, allowing journalists to share resources while maintaining editorial independence.
  • Public-interest funding, provided with appropriate safeguards for editorial independence.
  • New revenue models, including subscriptions, memberships, events, sponsorships, and diversified digital products.
  • Local journalism initiatives led by journalists and communities, particularly in areas underserved by larger media organizations.

No single model works everywhere. UNESCO has emphasized that there is no universal blueprint for sustaining journalism and that efforts to support media viability must protect editorial independence and freedom of expression.

What can journalists do?

For journalists, identifying a news desert can be the first step toward finding an opportunity.

Before launching a local publication or reporting project, journalists should understand the information needs of the community they intend to serve.

Questions worth asking include:

  • Which local institutions receive little or no independent coverage?
  • What information do residents struggle to find?
  • Which communities or groups are consistently underrepresented?
  • Are there existing journalists or organizations that could collaborate?
  • What digital platforms do local audiences actually use?
  • Could the project be financially sustainable?
  • How will editorial independence be protected?
  • What verification and sourcing standards will be used?

A successful local journalism project does not simply publish more content. It provides information that people cannot easily obtain elsewhere.

The importance of filling the gap

A news desert is ultimately about more than the disappearance of a newspaper or the closure of a newsroom.

It is about what happens when communities lose a consistent source of independent, locally relevant information.

The growth of news deserts reflects wider changes in the economics and distribution of journalism. Yet the emergence of new digital outlets, nonprofit initiatives, community publications, and collaborative reporting models also shows that local journalism is evolving rather than simply disappearing.

For journalists, recognizing where information gaps exist can reveal opportunities to serve communities that have been overlooked.

For communities, supporting credible local reporting can help preserve an essential part of the information ecosystem.

Where local journalism disappears, the need for reliable local information does not disappear with it.

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