First FAS-FAX Numbers: Many Top Papers Take Big Hits (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Editor & Publisher ^ | November 5 2007 | Jennifer Saba

[Milhous]

FAS-FAX: Top 25 Daily and Sunday U.S. Newspapers

NEW YORK Here is a chart for the Top 25 newspapers by circulation, both daily and Sunday, based on the new FAS-FAX numbers released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations this morning, for six-month period ending Sept. 30.

The full story can be read here. .

--Average Daily Circulation at the Top 25 U.S. Daily Newspapers-- Preliminary Figures as Filed with the Audit Bureau of Circulations -- Subject to Audit

Total Paid Daily Circulation, Monday through Friday average

Newspaper -- Current number, last year -- % Change

USA TODAY (AKA "The Nations' Doormat") -- 2,293,137 -- 2,269,509 -- (+1.04%)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL -- 2,011,882 -- 2,043,235 -- (-1.53%)

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- 1,037,828 -- 1,086,797 – (-4.51%)

LOS ANGELES TIMES -- 779,682 -- 775,765 -- (+0.50%)

DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK -- 681,415 -- 693,423 – (-1.73%)

NEW YORK POST -- 667,119 -- 704,011 – (-5.24%)

THE WASHINGTON POST -- 635,087 -- 656,298 – (-3.23%)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 559,404 -- 576,131 –(-2.90%)

HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 507,437 -- 508,091 – (-0.13%)

NEWSDAY -- 387,503 -- 410,578 – (-5.62%)

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 382,414 -- 397,295 – (-3.75%)

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 373,586 -- 404,652 – (-7.68%)

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- 365,234 -- 373,805 -- (-2.29%)

BOSTON GLOBE -- 360,695 -- 386,417 – (-6.66%)

THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. -- 353,003 -- 363,100 – (-2.78%)

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- 338,260 -- 330,622 -- (+2.31%)

STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS -- 335,443 -- 358,887 – (-6.53%)

THE PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND -- 334,195 -- 336,940 – (-0.81%)

DETROIT FREE PRESS -- 320,125 -- 328,719 – (-2.61%)

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION -- 318,350 -- 350,159 – (-9.08%)

THE OREGONIAN, PORTLAND -- 309,467 -- 310,805 – (-0.43%)

ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES -- 288,807 -- 288,679 -- 0.04%

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER -- 278,507 -- 287,204 – (-3.03%)

SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE -- 278,379 -- 304,334 -- (-8.53%)

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH -- 265,111 -- 276,677 – (-4.18%)

***

Total Paid Sunday Circulation

Newspaper -- Current number, last year -- % Change

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- 1,500,394 -- 1,623,698 – (-7.59%)

LOS ANGELES TIMES -- 1,112,165 -- 1,172,004 – (-5.11%)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- 917,868 -- 937,906 – (-2.14%)

THE WASHINGTON POST -- 894,428 -- 930,620 – (-3.89%)

DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK -- 726,305 -- 779,346 – (-6.81%)

HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 693,228 -- 692,593 -- (+0.09%)

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER -- 662,304 -- 682,252 – (-2.92%)

DETROIT FREE PRESS -- 628,839 -- 656,953 – (-4.28%)

DENVER POST/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS -- 600,229 -- 694,053 – (-13.52%)

STAR TRIBUNE OF MINNEAPOLIS -- 570,443 -- 596,330 – (-4.34%)

BOSTON GLOBE -- 548,906 -- 587,289 – (-6.54%)

THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. -- 534,128 -- 565,640 -- (-5.57%)

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS -- 523,313 -- 566,608 – (-7.64%)

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC -- 480,585 -- 503,952 – (-4.64%)

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION -- 475,988 -- 523,968 – (-9.16%)

NEWSDAY -- 454,194 -- 474,749 – (-4.33%)

THE PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND -- 445,795 -- 446,484 – (-0.15%)

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- 430,115 -- 432,957 – (-0.66%)

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, TIMES -- 420,587 -- 423,275 – (-0.64%)

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH -- 420,222 -- 418,443 – (+0.43%)

NEW YORK POST -- 405,486 -- 427,264 – (-5.10%)

MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL -- 390,840 -- 401,379 – (-2.63%)

ST. PETERSBURG TIMES -- 389,952 -- 386,664 -- (+0.85%)

THE OREGONIAN, PORTLAND -- 371,386 -- 375,757 – (-1.16%)

THE SUN, BALTIMORE -- 364,827 -- 380,701 – (-4.17%)

---

[Milhous]

ping

[bajabaja]

Somebody needs to tell the newspapers they are in a recession. Seems they think the US economy is in one, despite +3.9% growth numbers recently.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Daily and Sunday circulation at the San Francisco Chronicle has stabilized, down 2.9% to 365,234 and 0.6% to 430,115, respectively.

If continually going down is stabilizing, it won't be long before the paper is fully stabilized.

[Bob]

It would be interesting to see the population change in these circulation areas over the same time periods. If the population is going up while the circulation is going down, the situation is actually worse than the absolute comparisons would indicate.

[listenhillary]

While we celebrate the demise of some newspapers, we need to think about what will take it’s place.

How do we pay investigative reporters so they don’t go away? Better question. How do we judge the balance of the investigative reporting with out having to become investigative reporters ourselves?

Do we have reporters that have the conservative seal of approval? Or the liberal seal of approval? Let them get away with little lies and let mediamatters or Free Republic and bloggers separate the wheat from the chaff?

[Secret Agent Man]

I think all newspapers need to go paperless in order to do their part in ‘saving the planet’. /sarc

Actually it would probably help them from a monetary standpoint. Push them into 21st century journalism and setting up podcasts, subscriber services, allowing people to be sent stories on topic areas they select (that the reader is interested in), etc. etc.

The ones that did a better job at true factual reporting (as opposed to editorializing pieces that are not editorials) will gain popularity, the others will attract democrats who won’t want to pay for anything.

[Doctor Raoul]

I prefer the term “Controlled Descent Into Terrain”.

[Doctor Raoul]

How do we pay investigative reporters so they don’t go away?

Only you and Art Bell believes that investigative reporters exist.

[Doctor Raoul]

I ran the nubers on the PINKY, Philadelphia Inquirer, and when you look at how much the made 6 days a week, versus the loss in Sunday revenue, it's a wash.

But the Sunday paper carries more advertising and when it drops 6%, the rate they can charge will fall.

PINKY's in a death spiral.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

What you said is true for the Arizona Republic. Primarily reporting on news in Phoenix, one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, yet its numbers are still declining. Once it was a good paper, but then Gannett took over and fired the conservative editorial board. The hacks who write for it now have driven it into the tank.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

The industry is moving toward numbers that take into consideration all their products, including newspaper Web sites, not just paid circulation.

Isn't that what got them in trouble with fudging numbers in the first place? Or am I thinking of the magazine debacle?

Probably. Let's ask the experts.

[Milhous]

Advertisers Sue 'Minneapolis Star Tribune' Over Circulation Inflation - 06/29/2005
Time Inc. Gets A U.S. Subpoena About Circulation - 09/24/2005
Denver papers use liberal rules to boost circulation - 08/08/2005
Arrests made in Newsday circulation scandal - 06/16/2005
Belo Begins Refunding Advertisers Over Inflated Circulation Figures (Texas) - 05/02/2005
Newsday, Hoy publishers retire amid circulation scandal - 07/19/04
Tribune Company (LA Times parent) Admits Inflated Circulation Numbers At Two Papers - 06/23/2004

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Thanks Milhous!

[ConservativeMind]

That is a great response.

[abb]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119427904477182611.html?mod=mm_media_marketing_hs_left

Newspapers Try New Math on Circulation
As Numbers Fall, Dailies Trumpet Their Online Draw
By SARAH ELLISON
November 6, 2007; Page B10

Circulation at the nation’s biggest newspapers slid again in the latest six-month period, by an average of 2.6%, a sign of continuing defection of readers and advertisers to the Internet.

But in an attempt to draw attention away from the sagging circulation data, the industry is trying to highlight a new measure: the total number of online and print newspaper readers instead of simply the number of print papers delivered everyday.

“We think we haven’t done the job we should in marketing this industry,” said Stephen P. Hills, president and general manager of the Washington Post, on a conference call.

While advertisers welcomed the additional information, they said it is unlikely to dramatically change their view of the sector.

According to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, average weekday circulation at 538 daily U.S. newspapers reporting figures for the six months ending Sept. 30, 2007 declined 2.6% during the latest period.

Of the top 10 newspapers that reported circulation, the greatest declines were seen at Tribune Co.’s Newsday, where circulation dropped 5.6% and News Corp.’s New York Post, which saw average weekday print circulation drop 5.2%.

Weekday circulation rose 1% to 2.29 million at Gannett Co.’s USA Today, the nation’s largest paper by circulation, but fell 1.5% to 2.01 million at Dow Jones & Co.’s Wall Street Journal, the nation’s second-largest paper, and 4.5% to 1.04 million at the New York Times Co.’s newspaper, the nation’s third-largest daily.

The past few years have been tumultuous for the newspaper industry. The flurry of corporate activity — including a deal to take Tribune Co. private and an agreement to sell Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, to News Corp. — has failed to mask the overarching trends facing the industry. Newspaper circulation has been falling for more than 20 years amid a shift in consumer habits and a proliferation of other news outlets.

To combat the industry’s sagging image, the Audit Bureau teamed with the Newspaper Association of America and Scarborough Research to highlight not just the number of newspapers delivered to households and businesses across the country, but also the total number of people who read them, both online and in print.

The effort culminated in a new measure of newspaper “reach,” which combines circulation, readership and online page views.

snip

[Grampa Dave]

This report, comments and the bs that the newspapers aren’t that bad off, continues to show the Enron Reality of cooking their books.

Never believe anything that is printed by the dinosaur fishwraps and never believe their cooked books re subscriptions.

They are now apparently trying to push # of readers versus copies sold. That is a total phantom # will Enron the bottom line.

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

Exactly!

[Grampa Dave]

Earlier this week, Tom Sullivan got into this reader versus subscriber myth/bs while discussing this latest data.

The fishwraps and mags have lied to their subscribers for decades re people buying and subscribing to their waste of pulp.

If you follow their spin: My wife gets gift subscriptions to Martha Stewart’s Mag and Sunset. I never look at Stewart’s mag and will read some recipes from Sunset. The spinners would include me as a reader since I live where these two mags are sent.

The same thing applies to the 2 fly fishing magazines I get and the couple my son gets. Our wives never look at them, yet they might be tallied as readers as they live where the mags are sent.

I have wondered if fishwraps and mags count the daily patient load in Doctors’s and Dentists’s office where their pulp waste comes free.