As independent newspapers disappear, a secretive alliance fights to save them

Twice a year, the publishers of some of the nation’s last independent, family-owned newspapers gather in a nondescript hotel conference room to trade numbers and hard truths. They compare revenue streams, share new product ideas and talk candidly about layoffs, subscriber churn and the occasional wins that keep them going.

They call themselves the Independent Newspaper Group — ING for short — a private network that has quietly sustained small and mid-sized publishers for nearly four decades. There’s no website, no social media presence and, aside from staff announcements, very little online record of the group’s existence. That’s by design. (Our reporter was only able to attend because she was invited to speak about burnout in local news at the group’s fall 2024 meeting.)