Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Income Statement [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 502,090	$ 459,070
Operating expenses:
Cost of revenues, exclusive of depreciation	258,493	231,408
Business units - Selling, general and administrative expenses, exclusive of depreciation	73,621	68,429
Corporate - General and administrative expenses, exclusive of depreciation	12,708	15,333
Depreciation	13,471	13,217
Amortization of intangible assets	6,782	5,389
Asset impairment and facility consolidation charges	0	2,183
Total	365,075	335,959
Operating income	137,015	123,111
Non-operating (expense):
Equity loss in unconsolidated investments, net	(1,238)	(1,469)
Interest expense	(47,725)	(55,415)
Other non-operating items	(12,480)	(2,074)
Total	(61,443)	(58,958)
Income before income taxes	75,572	64,153
Provision for income taxes	20,385	19,495
Net Income from continuing operations	55,187	44,658
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax	0	19,241
Net income	55,187	63,899
Net income attributable to noncontrolling interests from discontinued operations	0	(6,185)
Net income attributable to TEGNA Inc.	$ 55,187	$ 57,714
Earnings from continuing operations per share - basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.26	$ 0.21
Earnings from discontinued operations per share - basic (in dollars per share)	0.00	0.06
Net income per share – basic (In dollars per share)	0.26	0.27
Earnings from continuing operations per share - diluted (in dollars per share)	0.25	0.21
Earnings from discontinued operations per share - diluted (in dollars per share)	0.00	0.06
Net income per share – diluted (In dollars per share)	$ 0.25	$ 0.27
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding:
Basic shares	216,276	215,305
Diluted shares	216,989	217,569
Dividends declared per share (in dollars per share)	$ 0.07	$ 0.14