News Desert U addresses the role that universities are playing in addressing the news desert crisis.

Through the exploration of six case studies featuring faculty, students, and readers of university news desert publications. In addition to providing context of best practices for other universities to consider when starting/taking over a local news outlet, the book's goals include understanding 1.) what impact faculty, students and readers feel university news desert publications have on democracy 2.) how involvement in a news desert publication influences student attitudes toward local news and democracy, 3.) how these university news desert publications view their mission.