Amidst decline of local news, The Berlin Reporter ends its 125 year run

Stack of newspapers on table

By Mrinali Dhembla

September 23, 2024

After 125 years of being in operation, The Berlin Reporter has merged with the Coos County Democrat.

The merger was effective Sept. 1, and The Reporter’s final edition was published on Aug. 28.

The Coos County Democrat is owned by Salmon Newspapers LLC, and subscribers to The Reporter will now receive The Democrat.

For the last several years, The Reporter was limited to publishing obituaries, press releases, and syndicated stories from other papers, and lacked staff or an office space in Berlin.

As local news outlets continue to struggle in the country due to a steep fall in revenue and circulation, New Hampshire is seeing the ripple effects of it, too. Both The Reporter and The Democrat saw a 17% and 10% decline in circulation since 2021, according to The Keene Sentinel.

Between 2005 and 2022, the number of journalists in New Hampshire decreased by 70%, and newspapers are vanishing at an average rate of more than two a week, according to Northwestern University’s Medill Local News Initiative.

Currently there are 27 newspapers, five digital sites and one public broadcast station in the state, as per data from the local news initiative.

Author

Mrinali Dhembla

Based in Manchester, Mrinali Dhembla is Granite Post's multimedia reporter. She's previously worked as deputy editor at The Keene Sentinel, and has experience writing for many national and international publications. When not doing journalism, she likes to cook food (and eat it).

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CATEGORIES: LOCAL NEWS

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