Missouri doing better than some of its neighbors in Medill report

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In its annual State of Local News Report, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University reports that the number of local news deserts in the U.S. jumped to record levels this year as newspaper closures continued unabated.

Among the key findings:

• The number of news desert counties rose to 213 in 2025, an increase of seven from last year’s report.
• There are 1,524 counties with only one local news source remaining, usually a weekly newspaper. Taken together, some 50 million Americans live with limited or no access to local news.
• There were 136 newspaper closures this past year, an increase of six from the 2024 report.
• Most of this year’s closures came at smaller, independently owned newspapers − not those controlled by large chains − signaling that an increasing number of long-time family publishers are surrendering to economic pressures.
• There have been more than 300 local news startups in the past five years across virtually every state, demonstrating a surge of entrepreneurship that has come along with a wave of philanthropic support. The vast majority of those startups, however, are in metro areas, leaving rural and less affluent areas further behind.

Missouri is faring slightly better than its surrounding states. We have only one county – New Madrid − without a news source, according to the Medill study. The Bootheel county lost its paper, the New Madrid Weekly Record, on Jan. 1, 2021, but the Sikeston Standard Democrat includes two pages of New Madrid news every Tuesday. So, New Madrid County isn’t completely bereft of local news. It just doesn’t have a physical newspaper office, which is a Medill requirement.

In comparison, Nebraska has 11 news desert counties, Kentucky has six, Illinois has five, Arkansas has four, Kansas and Tennessee each have three, Oklahoma has one, and Iowa doesn’t have any.

“It is true that Missouri is doing better than some of its neighbors,” said Dr. Zachary Metzger, director of the State of Local News Project. “This is likely attributable to a strong and vibrant foundation of local newspapers, and a high rate of independent ownership − more than two-thirds of Missouri newspapers are independently owned or members of smaller chains, which makes them less vulnerable to mass consolidations.

“At the same time, more than a quarter of all Missourians live in a county with just one news source remaining, usually a smaller weekly newspaper. As smaller papers face even greater financial headwinds, even more investment and support will need to go to the papers in these counties to ensure their sustainability.”

According to the Medill report, Missouri has 206 total news outlets: 173 newspapers (159 weeklies and 14 dailies), 11 standalone digital-only news outlets, 10 ethnic media outlets, 10 public broadcasters, and two network sites.

We have 71 counties with only one local news source.

The 11 digital news outlets are the Excelsior Citizen in Clay County; The Beacon, Startland News, and the Grain Valley News in Jackson County; the Webb City Sentinel in Jasper County; the Springfield Daily Citizen in Greene County; LakeExpo in Camden County; CoMoBUZ.com in Boone County; West Newsmagazine, 40 South News, and Mid Rivers Newsmagazine in St. Louis. Of the 11, seven are MPA members.

The Missouri Independent is considered a network site, along with Axios Kansas City. Axios, a newsletter-based media company that partners with OpenAI, produces newsletters in 30 cities across the country.

Missouri has 10 ethnic media outlets – six in the Kansas City area and four in St. Louis. These include the Kansas City Hispanic News, Kansas City Globe, St. Louis American, and the Telemundo Kansas City TV station.

Finally, Missouri has 10 public broadcasters that provide local news content. Eight are radio stations and two are TV stations (KCPT in Kansas City and KMOS in Warrensburg).

Kansas, by comparison, has 174 total news outlets: 151 newspapers (133 weeklies and 18 dailies), seven standalone digital-only news outlets, six ethnic media outlets, six public broadcasters, and four network sites. It has 57 counties with only one local news source.

While we’re not in competition with the other states, it’s nice to see that Missouri is holding its own and doing slightly better than most.