Navigating News Deserts to Deliver Important Information

The number of counties in the United States that are now considered news deserts, without any local news source, is rising at an alarming rate. 

Today, nearly 55 million Americans have limited or no access to any local news outlet, according to the Medill State of Local News Report 2024, following the closing of another 127 newspapers in 2024 alone — at a rate of nearly two and a half per week. In fact, since 2005, the nation has lost more than one-third of the newspapers it once had after a staggering 3,300 newspapers have shuttered.  

This year doesn’t look any brighter for the future of local news outlets either, after the school’s Spiegel Research Center used predictive modeling to identify the counties now at risk of losing their local news outlets. It predicted a 22% rise in the counties on the “Watch List.” 

Tim Franklin, the director of the Medill Local News Initiative and John M. Mutz Chair in Local News, called this a “crisis in local news” deepening as “fewer Americans have access to news they need about their communities to be informed citizens.” 

While, thankfully, the number of national networks providing local reporting through digital sites is growing, unfortunately, none cover previous news desert counties. This worsening trend is alarming not only for the population’s ability to access credible local news that informs their decision-making and fuels grassroots advocacy but also means that comms pros must find new ways to reach these citizens with beneficial and vital information. 

Here are five ways PR professionals can navigate news deserts to deliver the information citizens in these counties need.