When Iowa’s 3,000 circulation Storm Lake Times won a Pultizer Prize this year for editorials criticizing agri-businesses on environmental issues, the news shined a spotlight on the fast-vanishing family newspaper. Just 15% of daily circulation newspapers today are under independent control, one publisher and one newspaper. In 1900 the number was 90% and in 1957 59%. (The Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2017, by Lukas I. Alpert)
Community newspapers in general are under threat as ad revenues decline, newspaper sales dip and digital ads fail to compensate for the losses. Warren Buffett’s BH Media Group recently called for the elimination of 300 jobs across its newspaper holdings. From 2012 to 2016, every newspaper owned by BH Media saw a decline in daily circulation. (Columbia Journalism Review, April 13, 2017, by Corey Hutchins)