News deserts are defined as areas with no local news coverage.  It is mostly common in rural areas.

One rural area that has been a news desert is a small town in southwest Indiana, Martin County and Loogootee.  The city of Loogootee has a population of about 2,600.  The local weekly newspaper, the Loogootee Tribune, began publishing in 1866, but could not survive the downturn in the print media.

Braydyn Bear-Lents recently graduated from Indiana University with a journalism degree.  He has family connections to Loogootee and saw a need for local news.  In September of 2024, he launched the online news Web site, The Loogootee Times.

I talked with Braydyn about his decision to start the Times and how operations such as his are working to fill the gap created by news deserts.

You can find the Loogootee Times at this link.

You can watch the video version of my discussion with Braydyn at the link below.