The Del Rio News-Herald, a Texas paper published by Southern Newspapers, published its final edition on Wednesday, November 18.
“Retiring the Del Rio News-Herald this week is an incredibly difficult decision, one made only after long and deep consideration,” said Leonard Woolsey, president of Southern Newspapers Inc., which owns the News-Herald. “Del Rio is an essential and vibrant community in both Texas' past and future.”
Woolsey announced the closure to staff on Tuesday, just before the final issue published.
“Closing this newspaper is not what we wanted to do,” he said. “However, with the current economic conditions and the trends we can see, we can no longer continue to serve the community at the level we feel it deserves.”
In April, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper reduced its publication days from five to two. That effort to cut costs failed to return the paper to sustainability.
