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The story of one shuttered West Virginia newspaper

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

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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.

Copyright 2026 WBUR

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