A local newspaper traditionally paid wire services[1] like the Associated Press or Reuters for the majority of their articles.

They would only assign journalists for important or local content.

The daily newspaper was a news aggregation subscription service more than a news creation service.

It was inherently geographical because they had to print the newspaper overnight and deliver it to you every morning.

They would also select different articles depending on what might interest readers, e.g. an Iowa paper might syndicate an article on corn subsidies that a Floridian paper would ignore.

Computers fixed both the distribution problem and the recommendation problem.

The New York Times can distribute news nationwide instantly and simultaneously tailor my feed to my specific interests. They can do so better than local publications thanks to economies of scale. If you do have a subscription, it won't be to the Syracuse Herald-Journal but to the New York Times.

[1] named after telegraphic wire, which is how old this business model is.