He Wanted to Fix Local News. It’s Harder Than He Thought.
The 92 community newspapers Jeremy Gulban owns across the U.S. bear a plea on their websites: “Don’t let our newspaper die! Subscribe today.”
Many are losing money. Lately, even paying for the paper they are printed on is a burden as a result of looming tariffs.
Gulban, the 50-year-old head of a family-founded IT company in New Jersey, is discovering in ways large and small just how hard it is to revive America’s ailing local news outlets.
Related Knowledge Center: Local media
The hollowing out of the local news ecosystem has been well documented; in some communities, efforts are underway to reverse the growing news desert.
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.