North Dakota
Blueprint points path forward for North Dakota’s strained local newspapers
Shrinking profit margins, aging ownerships and headaches from factors beyond their control like postal delays continue to strain local newspapers across North Dakota.
While some of the 73 local newspapers in the state are in critical condition, the bigger picture is not one of dying out, but of hope for the future anchored by their importance to local communities.
A two-year effort to gather data called the Future of Local News Initiative, led by the North Dakota Newspaper Association and the Rural Development Finance Corporation, finds some reasons for optimism and several paths forward for journalism prosperity.
The effort, supported by a grant from the Bush Foundation, brought together journalists and publishers from across the state to gather a rare data set through surveying newspaper owners, journalists and consumers.
The group released a final report of their key findings on Jan. 29, with the data paving the way for pilot programs to address challenges going forward.
“This has been the most focused effort that the North Dakota Newspaper Association has ever done to quantify where we are at as an industry,” said Cecile Wehrman, NDNA’s executive director.
The data gathered includes finding that nine out of 10 news consumers believe having a local newspaper is important, with a similar amount saying that losing a paper harms local communities.
Newspapers are also the most trusted local news source, according to the data gathered by research partner Coda Ventures.
Chris Gessele, a development specialist with the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives who was involved with the effort, said that struck him most about what the research found.
“People trust newspapers,” Gessele said. “They view them as one of the more accurate media outlets or media forms out there.”
Residents of the three counties where papers no longer exist — Sioux, Dunn and Slope — value papers even more, showing how those losses impact communities.
In those counties, 96% said having a newspaper is important, 87% said they would subscribe to a paper if it existed, and 21% said they would be willing to donate to help fund a newspaper beyond subscribing.
“The absence of papers is really noticed in those communities,” Gessele said.
Joy Schoch, publisher of the Dickinson Press, a Forum Communications newspaper, said having data to back up the vital importance of newspapers has been an important outcome from the project.
“It’s essential,” she said. “It’s essential to keep people informed. It makes a healthy community.”
The next step in the effort is to pilot several solutions that tap into the deep reservoirs of trust, demand and opportunity while acknowledging the current structural risks many newspapers face.
“This is a vital, trusted, necessary industry that people want and need, and we need to find a way collectively forward that benefits society,” Wehrman said.
Currently, 24% of households across the state are reached by a newspaper, but looking deeper at county-level data shows much deeper penetration.
Out of 53 counties, 20 have over 75% of households receiving a local newspaper and 15 more show figures of between 50-75%.
Wehrman said those numbers more accurately reflect the impact newspapers have locally, and losing them means communities lose out.
With the $199 million in federal Rural Health Transformation funding being
rolled out in the coming year,
the importance of local newspapers in communicating what programs are available and how the funding can be used in those communities is crucial, Wehrman said.
People need to understand newspapers are “not a public utility,” she said. “These are individual businesses that need the support of their local communities in order to continue doing the work people value so highly.”
That disconnect between valuing newspapers and being willing to support them through subscriptions or donations is something both newspapers themselves and the communities they serve need to tackle if their survival is to continue.
“People aren’t seeing newspapers as a business like they see their hardware store as a business, and they may not be aware of their struggles,” said Ellen Huber, rural development director for NDAREC.
“We talk a lot about retaining and growing other kinds of businesses in the state, but I don’t think anyone has thrown newspapers in that bucket of important, vital businesses, and ones that are worthy of focusing on, retaining and strengthening and growing,” Huber said.
The real value of local newspapers needs to be better communicated to the wider public, participants in the initiative said.
“People think it should be free,” Schoch said. “I think people forget about us. People forget about it until they really need us.”
The next step for the initiative is taking forward several pilot projects centered on succession planning, exploring new revenue models, providing print and digital samples for the next generation of news consumers, and developing ready-made promotions and content that can be adopted statewide.
Whether those have a deep impact or not depends on securing grant funding to take them forward, Wehrman said.
The hope is that these don’t become moonshots, but practical, replicable interventions.
One of the most immediate concerns is the
succession planning component,
since so many independent publishers are close to retirement age.
Currently, while group-owned newspapers show stronger margins and sustainability, independent, family-owned papers are under pressure from owners nearing retirement, the high cost of printing and distribution, and the heavy reliance on revenue from public notices.
Younger journalists are interested in taking over the reins of these papers, but are constrained by a lack of training and the need for financing to sustain operations, the research found.
“Succession planning is something that we need to offer newspapers, because there is an urgent need for newspapers to change hands,” Wehrman said.
Another aspect those involved in the initiative hope can gain traction is to meet demands of news consumers, particularly younger Gen Z and Millennial ones, for both digital and print versions of a newspaper.
Offering samples of those to non-subscribers may be one way to boost circulation.
“I think there’s a lot of optimism coming out of this about all of the different ways the data gathered for this can be used, and a lot of excitement about the positive momentum going forward,” Huber said.
This story was originally published on NewsCoopND.org.
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This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here.
North Dakota
Rep. Eric Murphy announces reelection campaign for North Dakota House of Representatives
GRAND FORKS — Incumbent state Rep. Eric Murphy is running again to represent District 43 in the North Dakota House of Representatives.
A Republican from Grand Forks, Murphy is seeking his second term as a delegate of District 43.
“In 2022, I promised the residents of District 43 that when I was elected, I would represent all the people in District 43, not just those who voted for me,” Murphy said in a release sent to the media. “I held fast to that idea and worked hard to always respond to constituents in District 43 and elsewhere. While I may not always agree with a constituent’s position, I appreciate their participation in the political process and giving me an opportunity to understand their perspective on an issue.”
He said that his first session was spent transitioning from from his full-time job as an academic scientist to that of a legislator.
In his first session, he served on the House Education and Transportation committees, then was on the interim Education Committee and K-12 Funding Task Force. In his second term, he moved to the Appropriations Committee and the Human Resources Subcommittee. In the current interim, he is on the Budget Section, Human Resources Appropriations Committee, interim Education Committee and the Special Education Funding Committee.
“Education remains an important part of my legislative emphasis, working to enhance K-12 public education across North Dakota,” he said.
The release he sent to the media notes that he worked on a $1.9 million budget increase for addressing domestic abuse and restored funding for the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders clinic at UND. He also worked to embed two Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents with the Grand Forks Police Department, helping assist local and regional agencies in combating cybercrime and cybersex crimes against children.
“When I went to Bismarck, I went ready to work for the residents of District 43, for Grand Forks and for all of North Dakota. I think I’ve done that,” Murphy said in his release.
Murphy graduated from Hastings College in Nebraska with majors in history and biology and completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry at The Ohio State University. He was in the pharmaceutical industry, then was was an assistant research professor at Texas A&M and later held a National Research Council Senior Fellowship at the National Institute on Aging before joining the faculty at UND. He is married, with three adult children.
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.
FARGO — As the team at Dakota Medical Foundation is preparing for Giving Hearts Day this Thursday, Feb. 12, they’re reminding residents there are many ways to give back.
And they’re making a push for people to donate food or goods to local nonprofits.
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See Indiana fans after first College Football Playoff title
Fans of the Indiana Hoosiers celebrated inside the Hard Rock Stadium following their victory over the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
North Dakota State is moving up in the college football world.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Bison have agreed to a deal to join the Mountain West Conference, in football only, for the 2026 season. The school is expected to pay nearly $12 million to join the league, and will pay the NCAA another $5 million to the NCAA to move from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
Thamel reported the deal is expected to be announced on Monday, Feb. 9. With NDSU moving to the MWC in 2026, that’ll bring the league’s total to 10 teams.
The Bison have won 10 of the last 15 FCS football championships and were the No. 1 seed in the 2025 FCS playoffs before losing to fellow Missouri Valley Football Conference team Illinois State in the first round. The Redbirds advanced all the way to the 2026 FCS Championship game where they fell 35-34 in overtime to Montana State.
Of note: NCAA bylaws prohibit teams making the jump from FCS to FBS from competing in bowl games or conference championships for two years. That’s why James Madison teams that went 8-3 in 2022 and 11-2 in 2023 were ineligible to compete for the Sun Belt Championship or bowl games, as they were in their first two years competing in the FBS.
There are exceptions to the rule: James Madison and another FCS-to-FBS program, Jacksonville State, both became bowl-eligible in 2023 after it was determined there were not enough teams eligible for bowl season that year.
The addition of North Dakota State to the conference aids a league that lost Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12 in the latest round of NCAA realignment.
Despite the mass departures, Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming all opted to stay in the conference. Hawaii is joining the league as a full-time member, while UTEP will join as a full member during the summer. Northern Illinois and NDSU joining as football-only members will bring the total to 10 teams.
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Indiana1 week ago13-year-old rider dies following incident at northwest Indiana BMX park
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