Editor and Publisher Reports

As reported by E&P in May of 2023 (“Ghost papers: Journalists find themselves alone or with just a few left in the newsroom”), UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media’s Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics, Penelope Muse Abernathy stated, “Although the exact number is hard to pin down, we estimate, based on news accounts and industry data, at least 1,000 of the 7,200 newspapers still published in this country — and perhaps as many as 1,500 — have lost significantly more than half of their newsroom staff since 2004. As a result, they have become ‘ghost newspapers’ with drastically curtailed reach and journalistic missions.” The article mentioned Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa, who became the last remaining journalist at the St. Cloud (MN) Times, a Gannett-owned news brand that has served this city of nearly 70,000 since 1924. Gaafarelkhalifa told E&P that he found the responsibility and demands of his job as the last employee to be so overwhelming that it took a toll on his physical and