Longtime Gallup Independent Shuts Down, Leaving McKinley County News Desert

The Gallup Independent printed its final issue dated Jan. 31, 2026, and will cease both print and online publication, publisher Bob Zollinger said. Zollinger, who ran the paper since the mid-1980s, said a combination of local economic collapse and long‑running financial pressures made continued operation impossible.

Zollinger described the decision plainly: “I’m shutting it down.” He added, “I grieve mainly for Gallup,” and called the closure “a death,” recalling that “the last 40 years were compressed to, you know, just a flash, and a little tear came to my eye.” Zollinger said he attempted to sell the daily publication before taking this step and expressed alarm about the consequences: “I have deep concerns about what’s going to happen in Gallup. There’ll be no oversight, there’ll be no one looking at the county, there’ll be no one looking at the city, there will be no one looking at the schools... this community is just going to be out in the middle of nowhere, you know, a free-for-all.”

The publisher and staff cited multiple financial pressures. Cost drivers included rising printing and production expenses, tariffs, a steep decline in advertising revenue, falling subscriptions over decades with the advent of the internet, and disruption from the Covid pandemic. Publisher statements framed the local situation as an economic “collapse” that overwhelmed the newspaper’s ability to stay afloat.

The shutdown unfolded in the pressroom. Press foreman Eddy Armendariz, who has worked the press for 24 years, rang the buzzer for the last run and printed 4,964 copies of the final edition. Armendariz has printed more than 25,000 copies for a single edition in busier times, a reminder of the Independent’s larger footprint in earlier decades.

The loss removes a long‑standing watchdog and community forum. Reporters whose beats included uranium, state government and Navajo Nation coverage will no longer produce local coverage for Gallup and McKinley County. Columnist Anna Redsand and reporters such as Kathy Helms, Sherry Robinson, Hardin-Burrola and Volkert were named among the newsroom contributors whose work reflected local priorities. Longtime subscriber Connie Liu said the Independent was “a really good way to understand what's going on ... where people could read about our hospitals, our schools, things that really affect our day-to-day lives,” calling the closure “a huge loss for the community.” A press operator told staff, “It’s bad for Gallup; it’s bad for the reservation; it’s bad for the whole area.”

The Independent’s passing is part of a larger national trend. Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism recently reported the number of U.S. news‑desert counties rose to 213, with roughly 136 newspapers closing in a single recent year and about 50 million Americans left with limited to no access to local news. Bill Church, executive editor of The New Mexican, said, “It’s a sad day to see a newspaper such as the Gallup Independent bid goodbye. Their motto ‘The Truth Well Told’ was original, bold and reflective of the leadership role that local news organizations play in their communities. It’s a sad day for New Mexico.”

For residents of Gallup and McKinley County, the immediate effect will be fewer reporters watching local government, schools and public institutions. Community leaders, tribal officials and neighboring newsrooms now face the task of filling reporting gaps and preserving the Independent’s archives and public record as the region adapts to a rapidly thinning local news ecosystem.