[prfix]

Today's Tribune announcement of a 5.5% circulation drop at the LA Times appears to contradict numbers reportedly posted at the LA Times website:

On October 28, 2004, Tribune announced a "circulation decline" (note they did not admit to "inflated circulation") at the LA Times to a daily circulation of 902,164.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000693105

Today they again announce a 5.5% decline yet the circulation figure posted at the LA Times' website is 983,727 according to this BizJournals article posted here earlier.

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/stories/2005/04/11/daily60.html

Can anyone explain this?

[speedy]

Let's just go with the lower figure and be happy.

[Domangart]

Free papers to entice new customers that really go to the gate guard.

[Cousin Eddie]

I can't explain this specific case, but there are all sorts of numbers that are looked at in terms of newspaper circulation.

Examples:
1. Daily vs. Sunday (usually a big difference).
2. Subscriber vs. Total (which includes sales from newsstands and machines).

[Just A Nobody]

5.5% decline...surely that can be improved on.

[gogipper]

Milwaukee Urinal Sentinal earnings are down 16%

[goldstategop]

Like Col. John "Hannibal" Smith always to used to say on The A-Team, "I love it when a plan comes together." I love it when the Lefty Los Angeles Times keeps hemorrhaging readers. Every day, they find a new way to keep turning off people. Michael Kinsley, John Carroll and Company on Spring Street must be doing something right. Congratulations!

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[ken21]

inflated accounting numbers are only important when corporations such as citibank, enron, world com, qwest, etc mis-report.

they are not important when the media who reported on these mis-reports, mis-report themselves. (/s)