SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Dozens of communities in the Midwest and West learned Thursday they had lost their newspapers after an Illinois-based publisher announced it would abruptly close because of financial problems.

News Media Corp., which owns local newspapers across five states, said it will close 14 operations in Wyoming, seven in Illinois, five in Arizona, four in South Dakota and one in Nebraska.

Touting itself as “the voice of small town America,” NMC's closure affects longtime newspapers that were often the primary source of news in numerous small towns, worsening the problem of news deserts in rural areas.

The closure follows a decades-long pattern of financial challenges for local newspapers — the U.S. has lost over one-third of its print newspapers and two-thirds of its ne

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