Aug. 19, 2025:
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A dozen recently shuttered newspapers across Wyoming and South Dakota are set to publish again, after buyers stepped up within days to prevent the rural communities from becoming “news deserts” where little or no local media remains.
The swift rescues stand out in an industry where roughly two and a half newspapers disappear each week, according to a 2024 report from the Medill School of Journalism. The editor at one revived paper said his new owner saw ongoing profitability, while other outlets will be grabbed by publishers motivated by a sense of civic duty.
“It’s a little overwhelming, to be honest,” said Kayla Jessen, general manager of the Redfield Press, one of the rescued papers in South Dakota. “We’re all excited that we can bring news back to the community again.”
The turnarounds happened quickly. Illinois-based News Media Corporation announced on Aug. 6 it was immediately closing 31 outlets in five states because of financial problems. In less than two weeks, a publishing group in Wyoming said it would buy eight papers in the state, while a company in North Carolina said it would purchase four newspapers in South Dakota. Both buyers say all staff will be offered a chance to return.
The fate of other papers in Arizona, Illinois and Nebraska remains unclear.
After the closures, journalists and their communities scrambled for options to save the publications. In addition to regional news, many of the papers serve as their towns’ official outlet for legal notices.
Rural areas often don’t have local radio or TV stations, said Benjy Hamm, director at the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. That can leave a lone newspaper as the only media outlet in the area.
“If it goes out, it has a significant impact on the community itself, not just the media,” Hamm said.
The publishers in Wyoming said they stepped in because they couldn’t imagine more newspapers going dark in their state.
“We believe in the importance of a newspaper in a community,” said Jen Hicks, co-publisher the Buffalo Bulletin. “We know that in communities without newspapers, that civic engagement goes down and specifically, voter participation goes down, which is a really tangible way to see the decline in civic life.”
Jen and her husband Robb Hicks said they teamed up with Rob Mortimore, president of Wyoming Papers, Inc., to enter into a purchase agreement with News Media Corporation for its eight publications in the state. Hicks declined to share how much they’ll pay for the newspapers.
In South Dakota, Benjamin Chase, managing editor of the rescued Huron Plainsman, said nearly a dozen offers came in to purchase one, two or all four of the closed newspapers. Champion Media, the North Carolina-based company, ultimately struck the deal.
“This was really an ideal situation because Champion works a lot with community and local papers,” the editor said, adding that every staff member was invited back.
Champion Media did not return requests for comment.
Chase credits buyers’ interest to the fact that the South Dakota papers have significant readership, with a combined circulation of around 10,000. The Brookings Register covers a town of nearly 25,000 people that lost its radio station last year but is home to the largest university in the state.
“This is a group of papers you’re going to immediately have audience for, and all of them are profitable and working to keep costs down,” Chase said. The Huron Plainsman and Brookings Register, which were previously dailies, will now have a print edition only two days a week.
Hamm, the professor, said it’s rare to find such speedy commitment to reviving newspapers. “It occurs, but it’s a small number of places that actually have people step forward,” he said.
Chris Kline, president of the Arizona News Media Association, said the Arizona papers are currently exploring options for local and out-of-state ownership.
Aug. 8, 2025:
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Dozens of communities in the Midwest and West learned Thursday (Aug. 7, 2025) 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.
Touting itself as “the voice of small town America,” NMC’s closure affects longtime newspapers that were often the primary source of news in numerous small towns, worsening the problem of news deserts in rural areas.
The closure follows a decades-long pattern of financial challenges for local newspapers — the U.S. has lost over one-third of its print newspapers and two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2004 as the news media has struggled to adopt to a changing readership and revenue landscape, according to the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University.
“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 J.J. Tompkins wrote in a letter to staff Wednesday.
News Media Corp. is based in Rochelle, Illinois.
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.”
Staff took to social media to express their shock and disappointment at the news.
“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 social media 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, wrote in a letter to readers, “It’s no secret that it’s tough times out there for all print media, and we’re no exception.”
He added, “But make no mistake — we’re closed for now as a result of poor corporate management.”
News Media Corp. did not return a request for comment.
Brookings Mayor Ope Niemeyer said the closure of his town’s newspaper “absolutely” leaves a big hole in the community. He said it’s devastating for the newspaper’s employees and disadvantages the city, County Commission and other local boards that used the newspaper for legal notices.
Less than a year ago, Brookings lost the news on its local radio station, which left just the newspaper, now gone, he said.
“Obviously we all have websites and Facebook and LinkedIn and Instagram and all that, but there’s a generation that doesn’t use that,” said Niemeyer, who at 65 prefers a printed newspaper.
He liked the newspaper’s commentary for fostering conversations. The reporters did a great job telling readers what was going on in Brookings, a city of about 25,000 people, he said.
“It brings the community together,” the mayor said. “It’s an entity that’s going to be irreplaceable.”
The reasons behind newspaper closures are complex, with multiple factors at play, said Teri Finneman, a professor at the University of Kansas’ journalism school and publisher of The Eudora Times. The newspaper industry is using a business model that is two centuries old and unsustainable in 2025, she said.
The public also has greater reluctance to pay for local news, too few subscribers are paying too low rates and a lack of social cohesion in the U.S. has led to fracturing and mistrust in news, Finneman said. This has been coupled with declining populations in many rural areas and corporate ownership that often is unfamiliar with running such papers, she said.
“This really needs to be a wake-up call to every town in this nation that your newspaper could be at risk as well and it is incumbent upon people to start supporting their newspapers through subscriptions and through advertising if we are going to keep critical news in these communities,” Finneman said.
On Thursday, the Sioux Falls-based Dakota Scout newspaper said it plans to expand coverage in Brookings in response to the closures.
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