Guide
Overview
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is Virginia's main paper for the General Assembly and the Richmond courts, and the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk and the Daily Press in Newport News cover Hampton Roads. The Roanoke Times, the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, the Daily Progress in Charlottesville, the News & Advance in Lynchburg, the Bristol Herald Courier, the News Leader in Staunton, the Northern Virginia Daily in Strasburg and the Progress-Index in Petersburg cover their regions, the Washington Post covers Northern Virginia, and the Virginia Mercury and Cardinal News cover state government online.
Virginia newspapers carry the legal notices state law requires for trustee's sales, estates and government actions, publish obituaries for 95 counties and 38 independent cities, and hold court coverage that pairs with the Virginia Judiciary's free online case information.
Official sources on this page were checked on September 25, 2026.
Guide
Virginia Newspapers
Find local and statewide newspaper publications for Virginia. Access news, sports, classified, entertainment, and archived articles.
Guide
Major Virginia newspapers and what they cover
The Times-Dispatch covers Richmond, state government, the Supreme Court of Virginia and the federal court, with back issues from the 1850s onward in the digital archives. The Virginian-Pilot covers Norfolk, Virginia Beach and the Navy, the Daily Press covers the Peninsula and the shipyard, and the Roanoke Times covers southwest Virginia. Virginia's county weeklies, from the Rappahannock News to the Smyth County News & Messenger, carry board of supervisors minutes, sheriff's reports and the circuit court notices that Virginia's clerks publish.
Guide
Historic Virginia newspapers online
Virginia Chronicle from the Library of Virginia offers free digitized Virginia newspapers from the 1700s onward, one of the best state archives in the country, and Virginia titles also appear in Chronicling America. The Library of Virginia in Richmond holds newspaper microfilm for every locality, and the Richmond Public Library and the Norfolk Public Library provide free access to their newspaper archives with a library card and keep obituary indexes. The Virginia Museum of History and Culture holds early titles.
Guide
Legal notices, public notices and obituaries in Virginia
Virginia law requires trustee's sale notices for foreclosures, notices to creditors and debts and demands hearings in estates, name changes, tax sales and board of supervisors, city council and planning commission notices to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the locality, and the Virginia Press Association collects them in a statewide search. Nearly every Virginia daily and most of the weeklies carry obituaries, and the Library of Virginia and the city libraries keep obituary indexes. Court coverage pairs with the free case information system of the Virginia Judiciary for circuit and general district courts.
Guide
Browse Newspapers by State
Straight answers
Virginia Newspaper Directory, questions
What are Virginia's main newspapers?
The Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, the Daily Press in Newport News and the Roanoke Times, with the Washington Post covering Northern Virginia and the Virginia Mercury covering state government online.
Where are historic Virginia newspapers online free?
Virginia Chronicle from the Library of Virginia offers free digitized titles from the 1700s onward, and Chronicling America adds more.
Where are Virginia trustee's sale notices published?
In a newspaper of general circulation in the city or county, collected in the Virginia Press Association's statewide public notice search.