News Deserts: Counties without newspapers

The loss of more than 1,800 newspapers since 2004 has reduced citizens’ access to information about local issues and government, a new study finds. In rural areas, where communication can already be difficult, the impact could be even greater, the study says.Nearly a third of the U.S. newspapers that ceased publication in the last 15 years were based in rural communities, a new study finds. Most of the papers that closed were weeklies. In some cases, they were the only nongovernmental link between local government and residents, researchers say. Other publications have pared down their news operations in such a way that their coverage is minimal, becoming “ghost newspapers,” as researchers call them, mere wisps of their former selves.