About 2,250 Independent Newspapers Find Readers as 3,500 Titles Have Closed
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 10
About 2,250 Independent Newspapers Find Readers as 3,500 Titles Have Closed
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 10
Summary
About 2,250 small independent newspapers have remained relatively resilient even after nearly 3,500 U.S. papers shut since the mid-2000s, with The Chronicle of Glens Falls offered as a rare print success story.
The Chronicle’s model relies on direct, in-person distribution: founder Mark Frost delivers the free weekly himself, restocks racks, and monitors pickups to make sure copies reach actual readers.
40 copies at a time disappear at some drop-off points, including a Hannaford store where one 74-year-old reader collects bundles for neighbors in rural Stony Creek.
Northwestern University’s state of local news project says these family-owned weeklies have held up better partly because large consolidating chains often ignore such small markets.