Earnings Per Share (Details) - USD ($) $ / shares in Units, shares in Thousands, $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2016	Mar. 29, 2015
Earnings Per Share, Diluted, by Common Class, Including Two Class Method [Line Items]
Income from continuing operations attributable to TEGNA Inc.	$ 92,918	$ 69,412
Income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax	(7,474)	43,481
Net income attributable to TEGNA Inc.	$ 85,444	$ 112,893
Basic shares	219,286	227,089
Effect of dilutive securities:
Diluted shares	223,254	231,931
Earnings from continuing operations per share - basic (in dollars per share)	$ 0.42	$ 0.31
Earnings (loss) from discontinued operations per share - basic (in dollars per share)	(0.03)	0.19
Net income per share – basic (In dollars per share)	0.39	0.50
Earnings from continuing operations per share - diluted (in dollars per share)	0.42	0.30
Earnings (loss) from discontinued operations per share - diluted (in dollars per share)	(0.04)	0.19
Net income per share – diluted (In dollars per share)	$ 0.38	$ 0.49
Restricted stock
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive securities (in shares)	1,295	2,267
Performance share units
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive securities (in shares)	1,673	1,692
Stock options
Effect of dilutive securities:
Dilutive securities (in shares)	1,000	883