Why do local newspapers keep closing?
Because their revenue model was destroyed and nothing local replaced it — and the consequences are better documented than most media trends.
The economics. Local papers were funded by local advertising and classifieds — estate agents, car dealers, job vacancies, public notices, births and deaths. Almost all of that moved to online platforms serving the function better. Local display advertising went to social platforms offering precise targeting at low cost.
Meanwhile costs — printing, distribution, staff — remained largely fixed. Circulation declined, which reduced advertising rates further.
The pattern of decline. Titles are first consolidated into groups, then production is centralised, then local offices close and reporters cover ever-wider areas, then titles merge or close. Many surviving papers have no journalist based in the town on the masthead.
What the research finds about the consequences, and this is the part that matters beyond the industry:
Reduced scrutiny of local government. Council meetings, planning decisions and local spending go unreported. Studies have found declines in local reporting associated with reduced public engagement and, in US research, with higher municipal borrowing costs — lenders apparently pricing in weaker oversight.
Lower electoral participation and more split-ticket voting, as voters lack local information and fall back on national party cues.
Fewer candidates standing for local office.
Court and inquest reporting disappears, which is a genuine open-justice problem — proceedings are public in principle and unreported in practice.
"News deserts" — areas with no dedicated local coverage at all.
What is partially filling the gap: hyperlocal independent sites and newsletters, some successful; community-funded reporting; the BBC-funded Local Democracy Reporting Service in the UK, placing reporters in local newsrooms to cover councils; and social media community groups, which carry information but not verification.
Public notice requirements have been one of the few remaining supports.