Guide
Overview
The Tennessean in Nashville is Tennessee's main paper for the Capitol and the Davidson County courts, and the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, the Knoxville News Sentinel and the Chattanooga Times Free Press cover the other three grand divisions' major cities. The Daily Memphian covers Memphis online, and the Jackson Sun, the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, the Johnson City Press, the Kingsport Times News, the Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville, the Daily Herald in Columbia and the Cleveland Daily Banner cover their regions. The Tennessee Lookout covers state government online.
Tennessee newspapers carry the legal notices state law requires for trustee's sales, estates and government actions, publish obituaries for 95 counties, and hold court coverage that pairs with the county clerks, since Tennessee has no full statewide court case search.
Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.
Guide
Tennessee Newspapers
Find local and statewide newspaper publications for Tennessee. Access news, sports, classified, entertainment, and archived articles.
Guide
Major Tennessee newspapers and what they cover
The Tennessean covers Nashville, state government, the Tennessee Supreme Court and the federal court, with back issues from the 1810s onward in the digital archives. The Commercial Appeal covers Memphis and Shelby County, the News Sentinel covers Knoxville and the University of Tennessee, and the Times Free Press covers Chattanooga and the tri-state. County weeklies such as the Cannon Courier, the Grundy County Herald and the Lauderdale County Enterprise carry county commission minutes, sheriff's reports and chancery court notices.
Guide
Historic Tennessee newspapers online
The Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville holds newspaper microfilm for every county and runs the Tennessee Digital Newspaper Program, which contributes titles to Chronicling America. The Nashville Public Library provides free access to the Tennessean archive with a library card and keeps a Nashville newspaper index, and the Memphis Public Library and the Knox County Public Library do the same for their papers with obituary indexes.
Guide
Legal notices, public notices and obituaries in Tennessee
Tennessee law requires trustee's sale notices for foreclosures, notices to creditors in probate, name changes, delinquent tax sales and county commission and municipal notices to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, and the Tennessee Press Association collects them in a statewide search. Obituaries run in most Tennessee papers, daily and weekly, and the city libraries keep obituary indexes. Court coverage matters in Tennessee because circuit and chancery court records live with each county clerk, with only some counties posting case searches online.
Guide
Browse Newspapers by State
Straight answers
Tennessee Newspaper Directory, questions
What are Tennessee's largest newspapers?
The Tennessean in Nashville, the Commercial Appeal in Memphis, the Knoxville News Sentinel and the Chattanooga Times Free Press, followed by the Jackson Sun, the Daily News Journal and the Johnson City Press.
Where are historic Tennessee newspapers online?
Chronicling America carries Tennessee titles through the Tennessee Digital Newspaper Program at the State Library and Archives, which holds every county on microfilm.
Where are Tennessee foreclosure notices published?
Trustee's sale notices run in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, collected in the Tennessee Press Association's statewide public notice search.