Company Shuts Local News Sources in Five States

Dozens of communities in the Midwest and West learned Thursday they had lost their newspapers after an Illinois-based publisher announced it would abruptly close because of financial problems. News Media Corp., which owns local newspapers across five states, said it will close 14 operations in Wyoming, seven in Illinois, five in Arizona, four in South Dakota, and one in Nebraska, the AP reports. The shutdowns, by a company that touts itself as "the voice of small town America," affects longtime newspapers that were often the primary source of news in numerous small towns, worsening the problem of news deserts in rural areas.

"Unfortunately, due to financial challenges, a significant economic downturn impacting our industry, revenue losses and increasing expenses, and the recent failure of an attempt to sell the company as a going concern, we have reached a point where continuing business is no longer feasible," company CEO JJ Tompkins wrote to employees on Wednesday. Hundreds of employees were terminated immediately, and Tompkins wrote that the company will make "reasonable efforts to pay you all remaining compensation you have earned." They also lost health care coverage immediately, per the Mitchell Republic. News Media Corp., which is based in Rochelle, Illinois, did not respond to a request for comment.

Staff members took to social media to express their shock and disappointment. "No one in Huron, nor any of the other papers, knew this was coming today," Benjamin Chase, managing editor of the Huron Plainsman in South Dakota, said in a post. "We're all in shock and attempting to figure out how to move forward." Josh Linehan, managing editor of the Brookings Register in South Dakota, acknowledged in a letter to readers that it's a tough time for print media. He added, "But make no mistake—we're closed for now as a result of poor corporate management." The nation has lost over one-third of its print newspapers and two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2004, according to the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University.