Guide
Overview
Alabama's newspaper landscape changed more than most. In 2023 the Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times and the Mobile Press-Register stopped printing and now publish online as AL.com, which remains one of the state's largest newsrooms. The Montgomery Advertiser, the Tuscaloosa News, the Anniston Star, the Decatur Daily, the Dothan Eagle, the Gadsden Times and the Opelika-Auburn News still cover their regions in print and online, and about a hundred weeklies serve the counties.
For public records work, newspapers matter in three ways: they publish the legal notices that Alabama law requires for foreclosures, estates and government actions, they carry the obituaries that genealogists rely on, and their archives are the only day by day record of many local court cases and arrests.
Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.
Guide
Alabama Newspapers
Find local and statewide newspaper publications for Alabama. Access news, sports, classified, entertainment, and archived articles.
Guide
Major Alabama newspapers and what they cover
AL.com covers Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile with statewide politics, courts and crime reporting, and its archive holds the Birmingham News back to the 1990s online. The Montgomery Advertiser follows state government and the legislature in the capital. The Tuscaloosa News covers west Alabama and the University of Alabama, the Anniston Star covers Calhoun County, the Decatur Daily covers Morgan and Limestone counties, and the Dothan Eagle covers the Wiregrass. Weekly papers such as the Cullman Times, the Andalusia Star-News and the Sand Mountain Reporter carry the county commission, the sheriff's blotter and the probate court notices that never reach the big dailies.
Guide
Historic Alabama newspapers online
The Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery holds the largest newspaper collection in the state on microfilm, and its digital collections include selected titles. Alabama newspapers from 1817 to 1963 appear in Chronicling America, the free Library of Congress collection built with the Archives, including early Huntsville, Mobile and Tuscaloosa titles. For later years, most public libraries in Alabama offer free access to the Birmingham News and other titles through subscription databases from a library card, and the Birmingham Public Library's Southern History department holds the Birmingham newspapers on microfilm.
Guide
Legal notices, public notices and obituaries in Alabama
Alabama law requires foreclosure notices, estate notices, name changes, tax sales and many government notices to run in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The Alabama Press Association collects those notices into a statewide search, so a foreclosure or an estate notice can be found without knowing which weekly ran it. Obituaries run in the local paper and on AL.com, and for older deaths the Archives' microfilm and the Birmingham Public Library's obituary index are the usual routes. Court reporters in Alabama's larger papers cover circuit court trials and grand jury indictments, which makes the newspaper archive a practical check on a criminal record.
Guide
Browse Newspapers by State
Straight answers
Alabama Newspaper Directory, questions
Where can I read old Alabama newspapers for free?
Chronicling America has digitized Alabama papers from 1817 to 1963 at no charge, and the Alabama Department of Archives and History holds nearly every Alabama title on microfilm. Most public libraries give card holders free access to newspaper databases for later years.
How do I find a foreclosure notice in Alabama?
Search Alabama Public Notices, the Alabama Press Association's statewide database of legal notices. Foreclosure notices must run in a newspaper in the county where the property sits.
Are the Birmingham News and Huntsville Times still published?
Not in print. Since 2023 they publish online as AL.com along with the Mobile Press-Register. The Montgomery Advertiser and the other regional dailies still print.