A West Texas newspaper with origins in the 19th century has ceased publishing.
The Del Rio News-Herald published its final edition on Wednesday and will also end online operations. The newspaper is based in Del Rio, a city on the border with Mexico about 145 miles west of San Antonio.
The newspaper had been publishing five editions a week before dropping down to two editions a week in April because of the coronavirus pandemic. At its finish, it had a circulation of 10,400.
Local newspapers throughout the United States have seen advertising revenue drop sharply this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, even as the demand for local news grows.
“Closing this newspaper is not what we wanted to do,” said Leonard Woolsey, president of Houston-based Southern Newspapers Inc., which owns the News-Herald and other papers in Texas and Oklahoma. “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.”
The newspaper’s origins date back to 1884, but it took on its current name in 1929 when two publications merged.
