2026/01/27 by Rachel Barber · 1 voice
Computer Science · Social Sciences · #Media Influence and Politics #Media Studies and Communication #Web visibility and informetrics
paper · doi:10.1080/07352166.2026.2615295
openalex publication_date 2026/01/27 · openalex created_date 2026/01/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
News outlets are closing across North America. The centralization and digitization of news outlets, along with the economic pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, have accelerated the closure of local newspapers, radio stations, and television programs. Despite this, the spatial inequality of news outlets and news outlet closures remains understudied. This study outlines the geography of nearly 500 news outlet closures across Canada from 2008 to 2023. More specifically, I determine the relationship between news outlet closures and left-behind places—communities shaped by regional economic inequality and that often experience severe, persistent socioeconomic and political shifts. My findings confirm that municipalities with characteristics of left-behind places experience a disproportionate loss of news outlets. Municipalities that lost news outlets had lower median populations, household income, and educational attainment, and higher median index of remoteness values, than municipalities that gained news outlets. Moreover, a linear regression analysis demonstrated that municipalities that were more remote, had a higher percentage of older adults, or had a higher employment participation rate, were associated with a lower net change in the number of news outlets across the study period. Finally, I discuss the implications of these findings on the socio-political contexts of left-behind places.