Editor's Note: This article has been updated with new information. RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A longstanding newspaper serving Black Richmonders has closed its doors after 34 years, the latest outlet to shut down amid a rapid decline in local journalism across the country. The Richmond Free Press o n Thursday announced that it's ceasing publication this week in the paper's first and last online edition. "Last week's print edition was the final printed Free Press," the paper wrote in its Jan. 12 digital edition. The Black-owned newspaper also took to social media Thursday to announce the closure, citing dwindling advertising revenues that led to "harsh economic times." "All goodbyes are not forever. And this may be. Or not," wrote publisher Jean Boone. According to the Free Press, the outlet was founded in 1991 by Jean Boone's husband, Raymond H. Boone Sr., after he stepped away from a journalism professorship at Howard University. The paper sought to "provide an avenue for underserved community perspectives, particularly Black Richmonders, while championing free expression, justice and quality." The outlet published its first edition on Jan. 16, 1992. The "visionary leader," as Jean Boone called her husband, served as the Free Press's editor and publisher until his death on June 3, 2014. Jean Boone took over as publisher in late June 2014, according to the Free Press. "We made it work for more than 30 years," Jean Boone wrote. In a statement shared the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 12, Richmond Mayor Danny Avula called it a "sad day" in the River City following the announcement that the decades-long newspaper would shut down. Avula emphasized the vital role Black-owned media plays in strengthening democracy and community trust, and said the Free Press carried out an important legacy set out by publications such as John Mitchell Jr.'s Richmond Planet. "Many of the advancements we have seen in and around Richmond – in public awareness, in civic consciousness, in conversations about race and equality - did not happen in isolation," Avula wrote in a statement. They happened because institutions like the Free Press did the steady, disciplined work of publishing stories that others might overlook, documenting injustice, and elevating community voices." Avula shared his gratefulness to the Boone family, along with the editors, reporters, photographers and staff who were part of the work. "You helped move our city forward," Avula said in the statement. "The closing of your doors should inspire us all to remain active and involved neighbors in our communities." Attorney General Jay Jones on Thursday called the closing "a loss for our Commonwealth." "A pillar of Virginia’s Black community, it told our stories and demanded justice. Growing up, my grandma Corrine had my dad bring copies home to Norfolk from Richmond as those pages carried our voice and our history," Jones wrote on social media. Since 2001, for more than two decades, the Free Press called the Imperial Building on North Fifth Street home. The three-story headquarters was listed for sale last year in a move Jean Boone said "reflects shifts in downtown office use since the pandemic." Free Press' first reporter Trice Edney told the paper that its closure "does not diminish what it accomplished." Jean Boone told the Free Press she's "not going anywhere." A 2025 report from Northwestern University's Local News Initiative found that nearly 40% of all local U.S. newspapers have vanished since 2005. More than 130 newspapers across the country shut down in the past year alone, the report found. Virginia recorded a 32.5% decline in local newspapers over the past two decades as daily circulation shrinks and news deserts expand nationwide, per the report. ...read more read less