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The story of one shuttered West Virginia newspaper

WBUR

Published January 12, 2026 at 10:57 AM CST

A discarded iMac rests on top of bound copies of The Welch News. (Todd Melby)

Find the original audio here.

Owners are shuttering two newspapers every week, many of them in rural places like Welch, West Virginia.

Missy Nester grew up in Welch and bought the paper in 2018 to save it. But she couldn’t make the economics work, and last year, shuttered the Welch News.

Reporter Todd Melby went to Welch to find out more about Nester’s efforts and what is lost when a town doesn’t have local news.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.