Notes On The News: Print newspapers continue to vanish, while digital nonprofit news expands

Rosemarie Alexander addresses attendees at a Juneau Independent fundraiser at TK Maguire's on Feb. 19, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

(Editor’s note: The one-year anniversary of the Juneau Independent is Saturday, June 20. This is part of a series of articles focusing on the intent, to-date efforts and future plans of the nonprofit online local newspaper.)

By Rosemarie Alexander

Nearly 3,500 U.S. newspapers have closed since 2005, according to The State of Local News 2025, published by Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University.

Between 2024 and 2025, more than 130 papers in large cities and small towns shut down across the country. In 2025, less than a fifth of U.S. dailies were printed and delivered seven days a week. A separate study found the number of local journalists in the U.S. has dropped by 81% since 2002.

The Local News Initiative paints a stark picture: In the last 20 years, “almost 40% of all local U.S. newspapers have vanished, leaving 50 million Americans with limited or no access to a reliable source of local news.” Areas with few, or no local news outlets are often called news deserts. 

It is clear the Internet has destabilized the traditional newspaper business though it provides another avenue for news. Local news growth is coming from stand-alone, digital-only nonprofit news sites like the Juneau Independent. Over the past year, the Local News Initiative followed 695 standalone digital news outlets, up from 662 the year before. Digital network sites such as Axios are growing even faster. 

Nonprofit news has experienced unprecedented growth, according to Nieman Journalism Lab, an extension of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Recent data from INN, the Institute for Nonprofit News, also shows expansion of online newspapers. 

“The 2026 Index points to an increasingly local field that is, as a whole, continuing to grow, (albeit at a slower pace),” the INN executive summary states. Deeper into the INN Index, details indicate that three-quarters of news websites had steady or increased traffic in 2025, while a quarter saw a decline in readership. At the same time, newsletter subscribers increased. 

INN is a 500-member network of independent, nonprofit, and nonpartisan news organizations across North America. The Juneau Independent is an INN member and an Associated Press news partner. 

Focus on community

The year-long local news partnership with AP gives readers access to nonpartisan AP news, photos, videos, and other content, while across the nation Associated Press readers are seeing Juneau Independent stories and photographs.

Local news coverage is the common thread among the news organizations accepted this year by both the AP and INN. 

These newsrooms “focus on community – lifting up underrepresented voices, issues and regions,” Jonathan Kealing, chief INN network officer, said in a news release.

“This confirms what we are seeing across the nonprofit news field, that the one-size-fits-all model of the legacy newspaper is increasingly less common,” Kealing said.

The Juneau Independent was singled out in a new member announcement on the INN website: “These nonprofit newsrooms, all 501(c)(3) organizations, range from a community radio station founded 28 years ago in Minnesota to a startup covering Alaska’s capital city of Juneau.”

INN membership gives the Juneau Independent access to training, resources, and other tools for expanding the newspaper’s reach, including fundraising and matching grants.

According to its website, INN is based on the belief that nonprofit journalism serves people and communities; independence builds public trust; equity and anti-racism are fundamental to news coverage; and a positive work culture should be based on collaboration, camaraderie, and mutual respect. 

AP Fund for Journalism

For a second year the nonprofit Associated Press Fund for Journalism, or APFJ, has offered a 12-month partnership with local newspapers. A 2025 pilot project included 50 local newspapers from various parts of the U.S. In 2026, the Juneau Independent, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Kodiak Daily Mirror are among a group of 50 newsrooms to partner with AP.

The intent is to strengthen and sustain local public service journalism and broaden local newspapers’ reach, leading to greater financial sustainability, according to an AP Corporate Communications news release.

AP subscription costs are often out of reach for small print and broadcast newsrooms, but the AP wire is vital for most local newsrooms, said Amy Bushatz, founder and editor of the Mat-Su Sentinel.

“As a local newsroom, of course, you don’t have access to all parts of your state. You’re relying on wire reporting for that, and the AP program provides that free of charge,” Bushatz said.

The AP affiliation also gives the Juneau Independent national name recognition, access to coverage from other parts of the world, and is especially important for election stories, she said.

“This is trustworthy fact-based coverage from across the world and if the Independent editorial team thinks readers would be interested in it, they are able to publish that and enrich the Juneau Independent’s coverage,” she said. Bushatz is a member of the Juneau Independent board of directors.

The AP Fund for Journalism is a nonprofit organization within Associated Press. It does not make editorial or publishing decisions, and its partners retain full editorial control.

Juneau Independent Editor and CEO Mark Sabbatini said stories that are published by AP gain “an immense potential readership during major news events — and many stories are simply interesting because of the people, oddities or other unique aspects involved, and of course Alaska has a high curiosity factor to folks elsewhere.”

Examples include Managing Editor Jasz Garrett’s story on Southeast Alaskans’ perception of the Tongass National Forest management plan and her March 28 photo of the No Kings protest at Juneau’s Marine Park. Both were carried across the U.S. by the Associated Press. 

According to APFJ, AP content drives engagement, provides opportunities to localize national stories and gives local newspapers more time to focus on original reporting. APFJ also offers various training opportunities to partner newsrooms.

Amid the declines in U.S. newspapers, the Juneau Independent celebrates its one-year anniversary on June 20. It comes at a time that local newspapers remain the backbone of the American media ecosystem and are more numerous than all other media types combined, according to the Local News Initiative. For many readers, digital-only news sites are an integral part of their daily news consumption habits. 

• Rosemarie Alexander has taught communication and journalism at the University of Alaska Southeast and other universities, and is a former news director at media outlets including KTOO, and a member of the Juneau Independent’s board of directors.