Orange County Has 30+ News Outlets. Apparently, It's Still a News Desert.
A region can be rich in media outlets and still be starving for real accountability.
We’ve all seen this kind of fundraising appeal. And honestly, it’s a good one. A respected local nonprofit newsroom launches its annual campaign with a stark warning: “We’re not letting our region turn into a news desert.” The appeal will cite grim national statistics, things like 50 million Americans without local news, or one-third of newspapers have vanished. And it makes a compelling case for reader support.
Fair enough. These organizations are so often doing the vital, high-stakes accountability journalism that communities desperately need. This is exactly the work we should be supporting.
This whole situation offers a fascinating case study. Let’s look at Orange County, California. The excellent Voice of OC is a nonprofit newsroom that has exposed major corruption scandals, uncovered bribery, and forced transparency. Their work is the very definition of essential accountability journalism. And they recently used this exact “news desert” framing in their own appeal.
But here is the catch. The thing that makes this all so complex. Orange County has roughly 30 news organizations actively covering the region.
There’s the Orange County Register and its community editions. There are independently owned community papers like the Fullerton Observer (an all-volunteer nonprofit since 1978), plus the Dana Point Times, San Clemente Times, and Capistrano Dispatch. The county has a robust ethnic media sector serving Spanish and Vietnamese-speaking communities—outlets like Người Việt, Miniondas, and Radio Santa Ana. Student newsrooms are running at Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine, Chapman University, and at least six other campuses. And that’s before counting Voice of OC itself, plus broadcast outlets and digital sites like Irvine Weekly and the Orange County Tribune.
The actual count depends on what you include. The Orange County Press Club’s media directory lists dozens of outlets. If you count each of the Register’s community editions separately, the number grows significantly. If you count ethnic media and student newsrooms—which serve real information needs—you’re easily past 30.
So, by any traditional measure, Orange County isn’t a news desert.
What is actually going on here?
The definition keeps shifting. And that’s the problem.
The term “news desert” started simply enough. It meant a community without a newspaper. But as the crisis deepened, the definition had to expand. By 2018, researchers described it as communities facing “significantly diminished access” to the kind of local news that feeds democracy.
That’s more accurate, but it’s also a lot more slippery. The latest Medill State of Local News report found 206 US counties with no local news organization at all. 1,561 have only one. Those places face genuine information crises.
But scholars increasingly admit there’s no single, agreed-upon definition. A 2023 journal noted the concept is really about “processes affecting access and quality,” not just whether an outlet exists.
Which brings us right back to Orange County. If it’s a “desert” with more than 30 outlets, what are we even measuring? What does that word even mean in this context?
Quality, capacity, and who gets counted
Here’s the uncomfortable truth, the one we all know deep down: presence doesn’t equal performance.
A 2024 study of Nassau County, New York, found that predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods existed in functional “news deserts.” This is one of the wealthiest counties in America, served by multiple news organizations. Why? Because coverage wasn’t about education, or health, or economic opportunity. It was focused almost exclusively on crime.
The same exact question applies in Orange County. Are all those 30-plus outlets doing the same work?
Of course not. The Fullerton Observer operates entirely with volunteers, producing excellent community journalism but with limited investigative capacity. Student newsrooms do great work but turn over every few years. Some community papers may be one-person shops. And the Orange County Register—once a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom—is part of a chain that has dramatically reduced newsroom staffing across its properties.
Meanwhile, ethnic media outlets serve crucial information needs for immigrant communities. But they often remain invisible in “news desert” research. Aaron Foley at CUNY has warned about how narrowly we define “quality,” effectively erasing the work of so many BIPOC-led news organizations.
Let’s be honest. Voice of OC’s real argument, even if they don’t say it this way, is that Orange County needs sustained investigative accountability journalism. It doesn’t just need any news coverage.
That’s a completely different claim than “we’re becoming a news desert.”
This pattern is everywhere
This isn’t just about California. Look at North Carolina. A 2023 census identified 378 news outlets serving the state. By traditional metrics, that’s a robust ecosystem.
But last week, the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund announced $590,000 in grants to 23 organizations. And here’s the key: many of them wouldn’t show up in a conventional news census. The list includes Casa Azul de Wilson (sharing bilingual information with Latino families) and Emancipate NC (providing news in communities with high incarceration rates).
These organizations are meeting critical information needs. But they aren’t what we typically count. And they operate on shoestring budgets, often without the institutional support or recognition of traditional newsrooms.
The UNC researchers used a “critical information needs” framework. They looked for eight categories of information people need, from health to politics. An outlet only made their count if it consistently produced that kind of content.
That’s a much more useful framework. But even that doesn’t capture whether communities can access investigative journalism, public records reporting, or sustained watchdog coverage. It doesn’t capture the very work Voice of OC points to in its appeal.
From deserts to ecosystems
A publisher in New York suggested we stop talking about “news deserts.” He said we should think about “information oceans.” These are places where people are awash in content and need journalists to be lifeboats, helping them navigate to credible information.
During Hurricane Helene, a Facebook page for Henderson County, North Carolina, became a lifeline for survivors. It coordinated volunteers and distributed supplies. Was Henderson County (which has three traditional news outlets) in a news desert? Not by the numbers. But the real information infrastructure looked nothing like what our maps would show.
This reframing has huge implications. If we’re stuck in “desert” language, we only focus on what’s missing. We center loss instead of experimentation. We risk overlooking vibrant community information networks just because they don’t look like an old-school newsroom.
But this is where it gets so tricky. We can’t just celebrate new models without acknowledging what’s missing. Community organizations sharing hurricane recovery information is vital. It’s essential. But they typically can’t file FOIA requests, investigate corruption with legal backing, or provide sustained accountability journalism.
Those capabilities matter. And they are disappearing.
Why the language matters so much
This is why the language, the very metaphor we use, matters so much. The “news desert” frame shapes everything that comes after.
Funding priorities: When the dominant narrative is about absence and loss, resources flow toward “saving” legacy outlets. They don’t flow toward investing in what’s working or experimenting with new, more resilient models.
Recognition and resources: Think about it. Organizations doing essential information work, especially those serving marginalized communities, remain invisible if they don’t fit the “newsroom” mold.
Policy responses: “Desert” framing leads us to talk about newspaper subsidies. “Ecosystem” framing would drive us to talk about infrastructure investment, collaborative funding, or support for a whole range of diverse information providers.
Talent and sustainability: The relentless “journalism is dying” narrative makes it so much harder to recruit the next generation or convince communities to pay for news.
Voice of OC’s fundraising appeal works. It works because donors do understand that investigative journalism matters. But the “desert” framing hides a more complex reality. Orange County has lots of outlets producing lots of content. What’s scarce isn’t “news.” It’s investigative capacity, accountability reporting, and equitable access to quality information across all communities.
What we should be measuring instead
So, rather than just counting outlets, what if we asked these questions instead?
Can communities get the information they need to participate in civic life?
Which communities are being underserved? And by what measure?
What types of journalism exist, and what gaps remain?
Who is doing the hard accountability reporting, and how sustainable is that work?
Are ethnic media and community-based information providers being recognized and resourced?
I know, this is messier. It’s so much messier than just saying “206 counties have no newspaper.”
It means we have to acknowledge a painful truth: you can have many outlets and still have deep information inequity. It means celebrating community-led solutions while being honest, brutally honest, about what they can and can’t do.
The NC Local News Lab Fund offers one model. They invest in “trusted communicators” across the entire information ecosystem, from traditional newsrooms to community organizations. They are focused on whether people can access reliable, useful information. That’s ecosystem thinking. It’s not deficit framing.
The stakes
Let me be clear. Voice of OC’s work uncovering corruption at Angel Stadium and the bribery scandals... this work is exactly why this all matters. Communities need that accountability function.
But when we default to “news desert” language, especially in places with 30 or more active news organizations, we are solving for the wrong problem. We are simply missing the point.
Orange County isn’t becoming a news desert. It’s navigating a massive transition from one information system to another. This new system includes nonprofit newsrooms, ethnic media, student journalists, and community organizations, all operating alongside legacy outlets—some thriving, some struggling, some operating on volunteers and shoestring budgets.
The question isn’t, “Can we prevent the desert?”
The real question is, “Can we build an information infrastructure that’s more equitable, more sustainable, and more responsive to community needs than what we had before?”
That requires us to use different language. To look for different metrics. To try different investment strategies.
And it absolutely requires sustaining the kind of investigative capacity Voice of OC represents. They are right. Their work is essential.
They are just using the wrong metaphor.
Note: Orange County outlet count based on analysis of the Orange County Press Club media directory, California News Publishers Association listings, and independent verification of active publications as of November 2025. Count includes nonprofit newsrooms, for-profit community papers, ethnic media, and student newsrooms, but does not separately count each Orange County Register community edition, which would increase the total significantly.
I’m wrestling with this because I see the gap between what we count and what counts. This brings it back to you:
How do you distinguish between media “presence” and journalistic “performance” in your own community? What critical information providers are we overlooking because they don’t fit the “newsroom” mold?
Let me know in the comments.
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A very powerful piece, and brilliantly argued. I have no answers. The NC Local News Lab is one solution as you suggest, but it needs very high integrity and a purpose-fueled mission to work at scale - after all, what is a "trusted communicator?" I'd imagine that it's someone who doesn't ruffle too many feathers. Catch 22.