Local News Outlet Closure & Launch Watch

Why this is recommended

A daily paper that cut to three print days with a subscription that did not change, a nonprofit newsroom that launched in the member's county with a free newsletter, a public radio station that cut local news, a chain price increase of 40 percent, or a legal notice move that affects a foreclosure are each worth knowing, and the people who used to report them are gone.

What the Tab covers

Who it is for

Everyone who wants to know what the city council did and whether the water is safe, which is a lot of people who no longer have a paper to tell them.

When it runs

Owners announce closures and launches on weekdays and the paper stops showing up on a Sunday

Scope

Gannett, Lee, Alden and MediaNews, McClatchy, Hearst, Advance, Tribune successors and independent papers; Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, Scripps, Tegna and local TV; Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, public radio and TV; nonprofit launches via INN, American Journalism Project, Press Forward, Report for America and local funders; public media funding and cuts; paywalls and prices; layoffs and bureau closures; Northwestern Medill news desert data; state and local news tax credits and funding; platform and search changes; legal notice laws

Suggested task

The objective your Tab starts with. You can edit every line of it once the Tab is yours.

Local newspaper, TV station, radio station and news site closures, sales, mergers and print day cuts by metro, new nonprofit and independent local news launches with how to subscribe, public media funding changes and station cuts, paywall, subscription price and delivery changes at the major chains, newsroom layoffs and bureau closures that end coverage of a city or beat, news desert data by county, local news tax credits and public funding programs, platform and search changes that affect local news distribution and legal notice and public notice changes when a paper closes, with the outlet or metro first and the date in the title.

Track the state of local news in the United States. Report only confirmed, source-backed items from the last 7 days: newspaper, TV, radio and news site closures, sales, mergers and print day cuts by metro at Gannett, Lee, Alden and MediaNews, McClatchy, Hearst, Advance, Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, Scripps, Tegna, Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, public media and independents; new nonprofit and independent local news launches with how to subscribe and whether they are free; public media funding changes and station cuts; paywall, subscription price and delivery changes at the major chains; newsroom layoffs and bureau closures that end coverage of a city, county or beat; news desert data releases by county; state and local news tax credit and public funding program changes; platform, search and AI changes that affect local news distribution; and legal and public notice law changes when a paper closes. Prefer company announcements, union statements, Poynter, Nieman Lab, Northwestern Medill, INN, Press Forward and established media reporting; ignore rumors. Put the outlet or metro first in the title with the date. Use high severity for a closure or print cut at a metro's largest outlet, a launch in a county with no other outlet, or a subscription price increase of 30 percent. Return no more than 6 findings. Push each as a finding with a title, a two-sentence summary, sections for what changed, who it affects, alternatives, and the source link. If nothing qualifies, push nothing and submit the run receipt.