Against the Odds: How a Small Kansas Daily Newspaper Continues to Thrive in Print

In Council Grove, Kansas, a town of roughly 2,100 residents, a family-run daily newspaper continues to roll off the presses five days a week, defying a national trend that has shuttered more than 3,200 American newspapers since 2005. The Council Grove Republican’s survival offers a rare counterpoint to the collapse of local journalism that has left tens of millions of Americans living in so-called news deserts.

Council Grove, a historic community along the Santa Fe Trail in Morris County, may seem an unlikely stronghold for print journalism in 2024. Yet its daily paper continues to print editions covering city council meetings, high school sports, crop reports, church notes, and the daily rhythms of a rural Kansas community. The paper’s staff is small — often just a handful of editors, reporters, and production workers — and its business model depends on a tight-knit relationship with local advertisers, loyal subscribers, and a community that still treats the physical newspaper as part of its daily ritual. Readers often describe picking up the paper at a local cafe or post office as a civic habit passed down through generations.

The paper’s endurance stands in sharp contrast to broader industry realities. Advertising revenue for U.S. newspapers has fallen from roughly $49 billion in 2005 to under $10 billion in recent years, according to Pew Research Center data, as classified ads migrated to digital platforms like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Indeed. Chain ownership by private equity firms has accelerated cuts at regional papers, while many remaining dailies — from The Birmingham News in Alabama to The Times-Picayune in New Orleans — have cut back print frequency or eliminated daily editions entirely. Academic researchers have linked the decline of local journalism to reduced voter turnout, higher municipal borrowing costs, and increased political polarization, as residents without reliable local reporting turn instead to national partisan media.

Industry analysts say papers like Council Grove’s survive by occupying a niche that neither digital startups nor regional chains can easily replicate: documenting the everyday life of a specific place. Looking ahead, the long-term question is whether such papers can sustain their business model as production costs rise, postal delivery becomes more expensive, and older subscribers age out. Federal and state proposals — including journalism tax credits, philanthropic partnerships, and university-led reporting initiatives — have sought to stabilize local news, but rural dailies have historically relied less on outside aid than on community loyalty. For now, Council Grove remains a small but meaningful data point in the ongoing debate over whether print journalism has a viable future in America’s smallest towns.

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