Earnings Per Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2018	Mar. 31, 2017
Earnings Per Share, Diluted, by Common Class, Including Two Class Method [Line Items]
Net income from continuing operations	$ 55,187	$ 44,658
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax	0	19,241
Net loss (income) attributable to noncontrolling interests from discontinued operations	0	(6,185)
Net income attributable to TEGNA Inc.	$ 55,187	$ 57,714
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - basic	216,276	215,305
Effect of dilutive securities:
Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - diluted	216,989	217,569
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
Restricted stock units
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive securities (in shares)	177	992
Performance share units
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive securities (in shares)	216	541
Stock options
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive securities (in shares)	320	731