Guide
Overview
The Forum in Fargo is North Dakota's largest newspaper and the flagship of Forum Communications, which also owns the Grand Forks Herald, the Jamestown Sun, the Dickinson Press and the West Fargo Pioneer. The Bismarck Tribune covers the Capitol and the state courts, the Minot Daily News covers the north central region and the Air Force base, and the Williston Herald covers the Bakken oil patch. The North Dakota Monitor covers state government online, and about eighty weeklies serve the state's 53 counties.
North Dakota newspapers carry the legal notices state law requires in each county's official newspaper, publish obituaries for every county, and hold court coverage that pairs with the North Dakota courts' public search.
Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.
Guide
North Dakota Newspapers
Find local and statewide newspaper publications for North Dakota. Access news, sports, classified, entertainment, and archived articles.
Guide
Major North Dakota newspapers and what they cover
The Forum covers Fargo, Cass County, North Dakota State University and the Red River Valley, with back issues from the 1870s onward in the digital archives. The Tribune covers Bismarck, state government, the North Dakota Supreme Court and the federal court. The Herald covers Grand Forks and the University of North Dakota, the Minot Daily News covers Ward County, and the Williston Herald and the Dickinson Press cover the oil counties in the west. County weeklies such as the Hillsboro Banner, the Walsh County Record and the McKenzie County Farmer carry county commission minutes, sheriff's reports and district court notices in full.
Guide
Historic North Dakota newspapers online
The State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck holds newspaper microfilm for every North Dakota newspaper ever published and lends it through interlibrary loan, and North Dakota titles from the territorial era onward appear in Chronicling America. The Fargo Public Library provides free access to the Forum archive with a library card, and the University of North Dakota's Chester Fritz Library holds Red River Valley titles. Many county libraries have digitized their local weekly through Advantage Preservation, free from the library's website.
- Chronicling America, North Dakota newspapersFree digitized North Dakota newspapers from the Library of Congress
- State Historical Society of North DakotaNewspaper microfilm, state archives and research services
- North Dakota public noticesStatewide search of legal notices published in North Dakota newspapers
Guide
Legal notices, public notices and obituaries in North Dakota
North Dakota law requires each county to designate an official newspaper for foreclosure sale notices, notices to creditors in probate, name changes, tax sales and county commission, city and school board proceedings, and the North Dakota Newspaper Association collects those notices in a statewide search. Nearly every North Dakota daily and most of the weeklies carry obituaries, and the State Historical Society keeps an obituary index. Court coverage pairs with the North Dakota courts' public search for district court cases.
Guide
Browse Newspapers by State
Straight answers
North Dakota Newspaper Directory, questions
What is North Dakota's largest newspaper?
The Forum in Fargo, followed by the Bismarck Tribune, the Grand Forks Herald, the Minot Daily News and the Williston Herald.
Where are historic North Dakota newspapers online?
Chronicling America carries North Dakota titles from the territorial era onward free, the State Historical Society holds every paper on microfilm, and many county libraries have digitized their local weekly.
Where are North Dakota foreclosure notices published?
In the official newspaper of the county, collected in the North Dakota Newspaper Association's statewide public notice search.