When the last reporter leaves: Kentucky’s spreading news desert

By: James Branscome, Bill Bishop

Outlets: Kentucky Lantern

Published: August 5, 2026

Words: 1,236

Last Updated: 2 weeks ago

Body Text Preview

In the late summer of 1974 somebody set fire to the Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg. The blaze took the offices, the files, the bound archives — most of the institutional memory of Letcher County that Tom and Pat Gish had been accumulating since they bought the paper in 1956 and changed its masthead from “A Friendly Non-Partisan Weekly Newspaper” to the two words that made it famous: “It Screams.”

When the next issue came out, …

Create a free account to access this story and more

Join Plucky Wire to access full stories, collaborate with newsrooms, and discover content from networks around the world.

About

FAQ

Email Us