Visualizing the Decline of Local News – Center for Data Innovation

The Wall Street Journal has created a series of data visualizations illustrating the decline of local newspapers in the United States. The visualizations show that the circulation of national publications, such as The New York Times, dropped by an average of 29 percent between 2012-2018, but that metro, midsize, and small newspapers had circulation drops of around 40 percent during the time period. National publications have also been more successful at converting online readers into digital subscribers. For example, The Wall Street Journal converts 4.5 percent of its online readers to digital subscribers, compared to 0.4 percent for Gannet, which owns roughly 100 newspapers.