La Prensa Libre AR to Stop Circulating Dec. 28
The only all-Spanish print newspaper serving Northwest Arkansas will close after layoffs at parent company WEHCO Media.
Updated on Nov. 14, 2026 in Hispanic
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La Prensa Libre AR, an all-Spanish print newspaper serving Northwest Arkansas, will stop circulating December 28, 2026, with its final edition publishing December 30, 2026. Staff learned of the closure on October 27, 2026, as part of job cuts by parent company WEHCO Media, which also cut jobs at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Why it matters
The paper is the only all-Spanish print newspaper between Northwest Arkansas, Tulsa, Memphis and Kansas City, leaving Arkansas's Latino community of 105,000+ in Northwest Arkansas without a Spanish-language print source for local news. Its closure removes a resource that has served the community since 1998.
La Prensa Libre AR has produced Spanish-language local journalism for more than 20 years, since 1998, and serves a Latino community of 105,000+ in Northwest Arkansas. The extraction does not indicate whether a successor publication or digital product will continue that coverage.
The players
WEHCO Media
WEHCO Media is the parent company of La Prensa Libre AR and the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and it made the job cuts that led to the closure.
The details
WEHCO Media communicated the closure to staff as part of layoffs at the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and La Prensa Libre AR is used as a learning tool in AP and IB Spanish classes at Northwest Arkansas high schools. The paper will stop circulating December 28, 2026, and publish its final edition December 30, 2026.
Timeline
1998: La Prensa Libre begins serving the local community.
October 27, 2026: Staff are informed of the paper's closure during layoffs.
December 28, 2026: La Prensa Libre AR stops circulating.
December 30, 2026: Final edition of La Prensa Libre AR publishes.
Industry Context
The closure of La Prensa Libre AR continues the local newspaper contraction documented in Medill School of Journalism's News Deserts research, which tracks counties left with little or no local print coverage. Its loss is notable because it is one of few outlets serving Spanish-speaking readers in print across a multi-state region.
Spanish-speaking readers in Northwest Arkansas will lose a print source for local news, and families who used the paper to follow community events will need to find another source. Students in AP and IB Spanish classes who use the paper as a learning tool will also lose that resource after the final edition.
The takeaway
The closure of a single-language newspaper shows how the loss of local print journalism can leave specific communities with fewer ways to stay informed, so readers who depend on Spanish-language news should look for other local outlets before December 28, 2026.
What happens next
La Prensa Libre AR's final edition is scheduled to publish December 30, 2026, two days after it stops circulating on December 28, 2026.
Further reading
For more on Hispanic community coverage, explore the Hispanic section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Home Page.
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