I remember where I was the day I heard the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — an over 200-year-old institution — was closing its doors. I was sitting at my desk at home, likely working on a Farm and Dairy article, when the news came in.
What followed was a heart-racing panic attack and several hours of sitting on my floor, telling myself to breathe. While I understand that to most people this may seem like an extreme reaction, for me, it was watching the death of a dream.
Since high school, I knew I wanted to be a journalist, and, being a Pittsburgh native, working for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was everything I ever wanted. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Nellie Bly, one of the first and most influential female investigative journalists who ever lived, who started her career working at a paper acquired by the Post-Gazette.
Although I have found a home for my journalism here at Farm and Dairy — and I have no aspirations of working anywhere else currently — the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette closing was the stark reminder that this childhood dream would never be a reality.
But it also made me question the journalism industry in general: How long would I be able to be a journalist? This is a job I have so much passion for, a job dedicated to serving the public, crucial to the function of our society, holding people accountable and ensuring the voiceless are heard.
The journalism landscape is changing drastically, and this thought has been on my mind — and has been talked about by the Farm and Dairy newsroom on repeat. Perhaps that’s because in 2025, and even in the past few weeks of 2026, more newspapers are closing or abandoning their print publications.
Last year, the Columbus Messenger ceased publication, marking the end of five weekly local newspapers in Grove City, Groveport, Madison County, Canal Winchester and Columbus’ West Side, and the Daily Reporter in Franklin County, Ohio, printed its last publication in December.
In 2026, several newspapers announced closures — many of them legacy newspapers like the Post-Gazette — including The Oil City Derrick and The Clinton County Record (both rural Pennsylvania papers). The Athens News in Athens, Ohio, announced it would cease print publications in January due to a lack of advertising revenue and would be online only.
Since 2005, the number of newspapers published in the U.S. has dropped from 7,325 to 4,490, according to recent statistics from the Northwestern Medill Local News Initiative. Between late 2024 and 2025, 136 newspapers closed or merged across the country, according to the same report.
The closures of these newspapers are leading to news deserts, geographical regions that lack local media coverage. As of 2025, two Pennsylvania counties do not have a local paper, and 18 counties only have one local paper, according to Penn State University’s News Literacy Initiative.
Why should you care? If local media disappears, you will lose access to important information and, in turn, have less of a say in what happens to your communities.
Without local papers, communities lack specialized coverage of things directly impacting them, including city council updates, tax increases, new projects coming or going — all of which could affect your day-to-day life. It leaves local leaders unchecked, free to make decisions that could affect farms, businesses or livelihoods with no accountability.
Local journalism also highlights and shares stories of people in your communities, facilitating human connection and creating a space for others to feel welcomed, uplifted or just seen. While journalism can often be “serious news,” these human stories are just as important; they offer connection in a time when so many of us feel isolated from reality, clinging to our phones for a sense of camaraderie.
Why are local newspapers closing? The biggest threat to journalism came with the advent of the internet. Before the internet, you had to pay for your news. There was no other way to get it other than buying a subscription or picking up a copy at a newsstand.
The internet was a new avenue for newspapers to reach a bigger audience, prompting media outlets to put news on the internet for free with the assumption that the money would come later — likely from digital advertising.
But now, this switch to online news has papers struggling to make revenue the same way they did in the past. With more online advertising options, newspapers are finding it harder to attract advertisers themselves.
Why should we pay for news? In the coming weeks, I have had many people complain to me about paywalls in journalism (like the one the Post-Gazette has). Why are we consumers willing to pay for a print copy of the Farm and Dairy for a few dollars, but are disgusted with the idea of paying for a subscription to read a story online?
I understand the importance of making news accessible. News needs to be accessible. But if we don’t support local journalism, we won’t have it.
Passion is the reason why most journalists are in this field — it is what drives me as a person and writer. But passion alone will not pay our bills, support our families or keep a roof over our heads. So why should we expect newsrooms to do the job for free when none of us work for free?
Media is not an exception; it needs to be funded, either through the government, donors, grants, billionaires, corporations, advertisers or (when all those other funding sources fail) the readers. Because news isn’t free, it never was, it never will be.
I will leave this column on this note: I thank every one of you for your continued support of Farm and Dairy. We would not be able to put out objective and authentic journalism without you, the readers. We, the newsroom, hope to continue doing this honest work as long as possible.
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
