Combat News Deserts Through Community Partnerships: University of Kansas Research on the Future of Local Journalism in the USA

The United States has lost more than 3,000 newspapers over the past two decades. In most cases, those outlets are simply gone, leaving residents without a consistent source of information about local government, schools, public safety, and community life. A new book co-written by a University of Kansas professor of journalism examines a practical response to this crisis: universities stepping in to operate news outlets in communities that no longer have them. Titled News Desert U, the book offers a candid assessment of what works, what does not, and what institutions should weigh before deciding that universities own the news.

Why News Deserts Are a Growing Crisis Across the USA

News deserts—communities that no longer have a local newspaper or a comparable source of original reporting—have expanded rapidly across the USA. The closures stem from familiar forces: declining print advertising revenue, shifting reader habits, industry consolidation, and the difficult economics of running a newsroom in a small market. Once an outlet closes, it rarely returns.

The consequences reach far beyond an empty office. Local journalism functions as civic infrastructure. Reporters attend city council meetings, verify claims made by public officials, and explain how decisions about taxes, zoning, and schools affect residents. Research consistently links the loss of local coverage to lower voter turnout, reduced civic engagement, and even higher municipal borrowing costs, because lenders price in the absence of watchdog reporting. In many towns, national outlets and social media fill the vacuum with content that has little connection to daily life in the community.

For journalism educators, this crisis presents both a professional obligation and a teaching opportunity. As Teri Finneman, professor of journalism at the University of Kansas and co-author of the book, explains, a group of faculty across the country recognized the need for more local news and concluded that action was required. Their response: put their research, industry experience, and students to work.

Want to understand how the loss of local reporting affects civic participation and government accountability? Explore our related articles on journalism and community engagement for further reading.

Inside News Desert U: University of Kansas Research on University-Owned News

News Desert U, published by Bloomsbury and co-written by Finneman and Pamela Walck of Duquesne University, documents six case studies of universities that started news outlets or rescued existing papers in communities that had lost local coverage. The operations profiled are located in Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Ohio.

These projects differ from the more common arrangement in which journalism students produce coverage of a community for an existing company that manages the outlet. In the cases examined in the book, faculty took on direct responsibility. Some launched outlets themselves; others helped save newspapers from closing. They now collaborate with students to keep local news alive in places where no one else would.

Each case is distinct in its formation, operation, and structure, and each carries lessons—positive and negative—for any institution considering a similar role.

Community Partnerships in Action: What the Case Studies Show

One of the book’s greatest contributions is its honesty about the range of outcomes these partnerships can produce. Three examples illustrate the spectrum.

Iowa: Rescuing Two Existing Newspapers

In Iowa, a university partnership saved two operating newspapers from closure. Rather than building an outlet from nothing, faculty and students preserved continuity of coverage, retaining institutional knowledge and reader trust that a brand-new publication would have needed years to establish.

Kansas: Serving Indigenous Communities Through Broadcast Journalism

In Kansas, University of Kansas students produce Good Morning Indian Country, a broadcast program created to serve Indigenous communities that have long been underserved by mainstream outlets. The project demonstrates that community partnerships do not have to mirror a traditional newspaper. A broadcast format, produced in a university studio, can reach audiences that legacy print models never served well.

Ohio: When a Partnership Ends

Not every attempt succeeds. In Ohio, the academic news partnership ultimately was unable to continue. The authors treat this case with the same seriousness as the successes, because understanding why such efforts fail is essential for any university weighing the commitment.

Additional insight comes from Finneman’s own experience as publisher of the Eudora Times, another Kansas project providing coverage to the city of Eudora. That hands-on role informs the book’s conclusions about what universities must do to sustain these operations.

Curious to see a university-run outlet in practice? Visit the Eudora Times online or watch an episode of Good Morning Indian Country to evaluate the coverage for yourself.

The Advantages Universities Bring to Local Journalism

The authors identify several structural benefits that make universities well suited to operate news outlets in news deserts:

• Faculty expertise. Journalism faculty combine industry experience with academic research insight, giving these outlets professional standards and analytical depth that volunteer or purely commercial startups often lack.
• A renewable student workforce. Unlike a conventional newsroom that must fund every salary, a university has a continuous supply of students who gain practical experience while producing real coverage.
• Equipment and facilities. Universities already own multimedia production equipment, studios, and meeting space, which removes startup costs that would otherwise be prohibitive.
• Lower operating costs. Taken together, these resources allow university-operated outlets to function at a fraction of the cost of a traditional newsroom.

For students, the benefit runs in both directions. Working for a live community outlet builds published clips, deadline discipline, source relationships, and editorial judgment in ways classroom simulations cannot replicate.

The Real Challenges When Universities Own the News

The book is equally direct about the difficulties, and anyone advocating for university-run journalism should understand them.

Turnover undermines continuity. In cases where work for the outlet is tied to a one-semester class, each term brings an almost complete change of staff. Maintaining consistency in coverage, institutional memory, and community relationships becomes a persistent struggle.

Faculty workload is easily underestimated. Universities often do not recognize the amount of time and effort required for a faculty member to serve as a publisher. The role extends well beyond editorial supervision: it includes generating revenue, managing operations, and acting as a liaison to the community. Without formal recognition of that labor in workload and promotion decisions, burnout is a genuine risk.

Institutional support is not automatic. The authors argue that universities would do well to actively support faculty members who take on the publisher role, rather than treating these outlets as informal side projects.

Questions Universities Should Ask Before Launching a News Partnership

Beyond documenting lessons learned, the book poses questions any university should answer before taking on such an arrangement. Institutions considering a role in local news should evaluate:

• What structure best fits the community’s needs—a rescue of an existing paper, a new startup, or an alternative format such as a broadcast service?
• How will the operation be financed year over year, and who is responsible for revenue generation?
• How will coverage continue between semesters and through student turnover?
• How will faculty publishers be compensated and recognized for responsibilities that exceed a standard teaching load?
• What does success look like for the community, and how will it be measured?

Answering these questions before launch does not guarantee success, but it separates sustainable community partnerships from well-intentioned experiments that fade after the first academic year.

Opportunities for Students, Educators, and Community Leaders

The release of News Desert U comes at a moment of growing interest in academic responses to the local news crisis. Finneman and Walck are hosting a virtual conference featuring the faculty behind each of the six publications, covering the structure of their outlets, finances, student and community impact, and related topics. For journalism educators weighing a similar initiative, the event offers direct access to people who have managed these operations in practice rather than in theory.

If you are a journalism educator considering an academic news venture, register for the News Desert U virtual conference to learn directly from the faculty who run these outlets day to day.

For prospective students, projects such as Good Morning Indian Country and the Eudora Times show what journalism education at the University of Kansas looks like beyond the classroom: real audiences, real deadlines, and measurable community impact. Applicants evaluating journalism programs should ask whether a school offers this kind of live newsroom experience, because it shapes both skill development and employment prospects.

Interested in hands-on journalism training in Kansas? Explore the University of Kansas and its William Allen White School of Journalism, and schedule a visit to see student newsroom work firsthand.

For community leaders in areas that have lost coverage, the book provides a framework for approaching a local college or university with a concrete, informed proposal rather than a general request for help.

The Future of Local News Rests on Community Partnerships

No single model will rebuild local journalism across the USA, and the authors of News Desert U do not claim that universities are the only answer. What the book demonstrates is that universities can play a meaningful role—provided they understand the costs, structure the work sustainably, and support the faculty who carry it out. The six case studies show both the promise and the limits of academic news operations, and that honest picture is precisely what makes the research useful.

For journalism educators, students, and community members, the next step starts with informed conversation. If your community has lost its local newspaper, or if you are an educator considering an academic news venture, the experiences documented in this University of Kansas research offer a practical starting point rather than a theoretical one.

Have questions about university-community news partnerships, or firsthand experience with a news desert in your area? Share your perspective in the comments below or write to us directly. To continue learning, explore our related articles on journalism, media sustainability, and community engagement.