Why The New York Times is covering newspaper closures as a national story (and how local outlets can collaborate)

The crisis of local newspapers, in The New York Times' eyes, is now a national story.

Choked out by Facebook, Google and other digital giants for advertising dollars, consolidated by profit-seeking corporations, and ultimately closing up shop as the community watchdogs and drivers of civic engagement, the struggles of local media – especially legacy newspapers – are not unfamiliar to Nieman Lab readers. (Heck, many of you have probably lived through them.) But showing the impact of these closures to the broader public is, the Times believes, a team effort. Since May, when the Baton Rouge Advocate bought the 182-year-old New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Times has been chronicling the demise of longtime local print outlets, with a dash of solutions first featured online Thursday, and it doesn't plan to stop.

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