Is Print News Dead?

The world once woke to the rustling of newsprint, the scent of ink lingering on crisp pages, and the quiet weight of a fresh newspaper resting on doorsteps—tossed there by the sure hand of a neighborhood paperboy. In bustling cities, men in fedoras and women in neat dresses fished coins from their pockets, dropping them into the waiting hands of newsstand vendors who stood on corners, their racks brimming with the day’s stories. Inside warm kitchens, fathers shook out the pages with a snap, sipping coffee as they read about a world beyond their doorstep. The newspaper was more than just a collection of stories: it was a daily ritual, a tether to the world, a reason to pause.

But today, that crisp rustling of paper has been replaced by the glow of screens. Fewer people subscribe to physical newspapers, and many major publications have cut back on print editions or shut down entirely. So, is print news dead? Or is it simply evolving?

The numbers don’t lie: print circulation has been steadily dropping for years. Weekday circulation of U.S. daily newspapers was around 55.8 million in 2000, but by 2020, it had fallen to just 24.2 million, according to Editor & Publisher and the Pew Research Center. The rise of digital news, combined with social media’s rapid spread of information, has made it easier—and often cheaper—to consume news without ever picking up a physical paper. Younger generations, in particular, rarely buy print newspapers, relying instead on their phones for updates.

While national news is readily available online, local journalism is harder to replace. Community newspapers keep residents informed about local government, schools, businesses, and events—topics that often get overlooked by larger news outlets. Without strong local journalism, communities lose a key source of accountability, and important stories may go untold.

To get firsthand insight on local journalism, I sat down with Dave Brown, Managing Editor of The Herald-Palladium, Saint Joseph’s local newspaper.

“When I started working here, the internet didn’t exist,” said Brown. “We were just a paper.” However, that changed in the mid-’90s when newspapers began building online platforms, so The Herald-Palladium launched their website. At the time, it featured only a handful of articles—most of which had already appeared in the print edition. But over time, their online presence grew.

Today, the paper publishes all their stories to their website at six in the morning as they’ll appear in print that day. “But if there’s a breaking news event that happens in the afternoon—an accident or some big announcement—we would go ahead and publish that on our website right away and it would be there before the print product comes out [the next day],” Brown said. However, fast news is only part of the picture. Brown and his team are just as committed to reporting in-depth stories that take time to develop—stories that dive deeper than a social media post or news alert ever could.

Over the years, Brown has watched readership trends shift dramatically. Print subscriptions have declined. “I would say that the number of people who buy and read our newspaper is down a lot from where it was when I started working here,” admitted Brown. “It's because consumers have… changed their source. Now we've picked up a lot of those people reading online, but our… combined online audience and our print audience still isn't as good as it used to be in print only. The overall [number of] people who are reading newspapers… in any community, is down significantly from what it was,” Brown stated. “So there are fewer people getting the information that local newspapers are providing.”

That shift has brought tough decisions. The Herald-Palladium used to be a seven-day paper with a thicker page count and a larger staff. Now it prints five days a week with a leaner operation. “There’s just not a lot of revenue from online advertising for newspapers,” Brown said. “People have been trained [to think] that everything on the internet should be free.” At the same time, local reporting takes time, resources, and professional journalists who deserve fair pay.

Despite the obstacles, Brown remains optimistic. He believes in the importance of trustworthy local journalism, especially in a time when misinformation spreads rapidly and many media sources blur the line between facts and opinion.

He’s particularly concerned about what’s being lost in communities where local newspapers have shut down completely—and what’s replacing them. “Every community should have a newspaper,” he said. “It’s sad to me that a lot don’t. There are fewer people getting the information that local newspapers are providing.” In the absence of local journalism, misinformation often fills the gap. “There was a time when if you wanted to know what was happening in the community, you had to get the newspaper,” Brown said. “But now you can get it from a lot of different sources. The problem is a lot of the information you're getting from other sources isn't necessarily accurate. And so getting information from a newspaper or some news media that is actually talking to people and getting facts and checking things out before it's published is important to keep to know what's going on.”

“Local news outlets will survive in some form,” he said. “Maybe not newspapers as we know them, but communities will always need someone gathering facts, telling stories, and holding people accountable.”

As a student journalist, I asked him what advice he’d give to young people thinking about entering the field. He recalled writing a column back in 2000 when people were already predicting the death of newspapers in the next five years. “And I said, ‘I don't think that's going to happen.’ And we're still here 25 years later,” Brown said. While the audience for print may be aging and shrinking, he believes there’s still a future for physical papers—at least for now.

So to answer the question: is print news dead or is it simply evolving? Brown said, “Well obviously I don't have any control… keeping anything alive, but we just want to do our best to make our newspaper relevant to as many people as we can. And we can't change… how people get their information, but we want to try to provide content in our paper that people aren't getting elsewhere that makes some want to buy our paper—feel that our paper is worth the investment. So just trying to do our jobs well and making people aware that we have information that is important to them.”

In that sense, the future of news doesn’t rest on paper or pixels—but on the people who tell the stories, and the communities willing to listen.

Although print newspapers are struggling, local journalism itself isn’t necessarily dying—it’s evolving. Many local news outlets have moved online, offering digital subscriptions, social media updates, and email newsletters to stay connected with readers. While this shift ensures that people still have access to local reporting, it raises concerns about sustainability. Digital ads don’t always generate enough revenue, and fewer people are willing to pay for online subscriptions, making it harder for journalists to fund their work.

If print news completely disappears, we risk losing more than just a paper. A decline in print journalism means a decline in investigative reporting, as many online platforms prioritize quick, attention-grabbing headlines over in-depth research. Additionally, print newspapers provide a tangible, distraction-free reading experience that digital news can’t replicate. Without them, the way we consume information may become even more fragmented and driven by algorithms.

While print news may never return to its former prominence, efforts can be made to preserve its core values. Supporting local journalism—whether by subscribing to digital editions, donating to independent news organizations, or simply sharing credible reporting—can help keep quality journalism alive. Print news may be on life support, but the need for well-researched, trustworthy news is greater than ever.