The abrupt closure of 23 news operations in five states merits considerably more attention that it seems to have received.

Specifically, according to pbs.org, News Media Corp. (NMC) shut down 23 operations: Six in Wyoming, seven in Illinois, five in Arizona, four in South Dakota and one in Nebraska. A letter from NMC to affected workers, posted by editorandpublisher.com, cited “financial challenges, a significant economic downturn impacting our industry, revenue losses and increasing expenses” for the move, acknowledging “recent failure of an attempt to sell the company as a going concern.”

“The closures by the Illinois-based company are just the latest in a trend contributing to growing news deserts in rural America,” PBS reported. “Over the past two decades, more than a third of the na

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