Arizona has local news outlets in every county, defying national trend
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Arizona has zero counties without at least one local news outlet and just three that rely on a single outlet, defying a national trend this year.
State of play: The decline of local newspapers accelerated so rapidly in 2023 that analysts now believe the U.S. will have lost one-third of the newspapers it had as of 2005 by the end of next year — rather than in 2025, as originally predicted.
Why it matters: Most communities that lose a local newspaper in America usually do not get a replacement, even online, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.
- The divide between those with access to quality local news and those who don't is growing in America.
- The authors of the report argue that dynamic "poses a far-reaching crisis for our democracy as it simultaneously struggles with political polarization, a lack of civic engagement and the proliferation of misinformation and information online."
Zoom in: Arizona didn't lose any of its newspapers in 2023, according to an analysis of Arizona's news landscape by Northwestern University's Medill Local News Initiative.
- The state has 97 news outlets, including 68 daily or weekly papers, seven digital news sites, five public broadcasters, and 17 racial or ethnically oriented outlets, predominantly geared toward Latinos.
- Only Graham, Greenlee and La Paz counties rely on a single news outlet.
- We're one of only 11 states with at least one news outlet in every county, though the number of counties in Arizona (15) is smaller than in all but seven states.
By the numbers: There are roughly 6,000 newspapers left in America, down from 8,891 in 2005, according to a new report from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
- "We're almost at a one-third loss now and we'll certainly hit that pace next year," said the report's co-authors — Penelope Muse Abernathy, a visiting professor at Medill, and Sarah Stonbely, director of Medill's State of Local News Project.
- Of the papers that have survived, a majority (4,790) publish weekly, not daily.
Between the lines: In addition to Axios Phoenix, which launched in June 2022, Arizona has gained several news outlets in recent years, including the Arizona Agenda, Arizona Mirror, AZ Luminaria and Tucson Agenda.