Posted on 05/29/2004 7:59:14 AM PDT by nwrep
The largest newspapers in the U.S. generally had modest circulation gains in the latest six months, but the figures overall were flat, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
In the industry's semiannual circulation report, Gannett Co.'s USA Today remained the nation's top-selling newspaper and saw its average daily circulation for the six months ended March 31 rise 1.4% to 2,280,761. A spokesman said the paper benefited from a stronger economy, with more people traveling to both business and leisure destinations. Travelers are key readers for USA Today.
The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Co., remained in the second spot. The newspaper had a 15% gain in circulation, with average daily circulation rising to 2,101,017, including some online subscribers allowed to be counted under ABC rules, compared with 1,820,600 in the year-earlier period, when online subscribers weren't allowed to be included.
Average weekday circulation for the print edition stayed "essentially flat," at 1,805,855, according to a spokeswoman. The Wall Street Journal Online counts 695,000 paying subscribers world-wide, the majority of which are subscribers only to the online edition of the paper. Of that number, the Journal was allowed to include 295,162 in its circulation statement based on ABC rules governing what price level of subscriptions can count as paid circulation.
News Corp.'s New York Post continued to see big gains. The Post registered a 9.34% jump in average weekday circulation to 678,012.
New York Times Co.'s flagship paper, the New York Times, lodged a 0.27% gain in average weekly circulation to 1,133,763. Circulation at the New York Daily News was up 1.36% to 747,053.
Overall, the industry posted generally anemic circulation results, according to a Newspaper Association of America analysis of the ABC numbers. Average daily circulation for the 836 reporting newspapers fell 0.1% to 50,827,454 for the six-month period, compared with the year-earlier period. Average Sunday circulation for the 659 newspapers reporting fell 0.9% to 55,075,444.
"Overall, this was not a terribly bad period," said NAA Chief Executive John F. Sturm. He said the industry was down, overall, "by just the slightest amount."
The steepest decline among the 10 largest papers came at Washington Post Co.'s Washington Post, where average daily circulation fell 2.99% to 772,553. A spokesman for the Washington Post couldn't be reached to comment.
At 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, Gannett shares were off 53 cents at $86.15, Dow Jones was up $1.08 at $47.17, News Corp. American depositary receipts were up five cents at $36.61, New York Times shares were down 23 cents at $45.58, and Washington Post was up $10.50 at $930.50.
Yawnnnnnnn...newspapers are so yesterday.
Ha-ha. Of course, should there ever be a toilet paper shortage, there be a legitimate use for the Slimes and ComPost then and circulation should pick up.
From my own experience in the Chicago area, the daily highly liberal Chicago Tribune delivery is solely due to the fact that my wife insists on getting updated ads, especially for grocery pricing.
Trying to talk the wife out of this paper for which I'm paying in order to get advertising is, in my case, a futile exercise.
Maybe it's my fault, but peace at the home front is valuable.
We cancelled our hometown paper, the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 1999. The only reason we kept the subscription as long as we did was due to Atlanta Braves coverage. In the end Cynthia Tucker and crew getting my money for writing left wing drival was much more important to us than the Braves.
I've never regretted my decision. In fact I get to tell the employees of the AJC when they call me monthly to get my business back.
When asked why they were reading the Wash Times, the usual response or implication was that they wanted the news that was left out of the other paper.
It became an interesting game to watch how news was reported about events of which the insiders knew the facts, were present at the press briefings, yet observed two entirely different stories printed in the two papers.
When you start to realize that your story was printed with a bias, then you slowly begin to realize that all stories are printed with a bias.
The short list of what I no longer read -
TIME,
Newsweek,
Washington Post,
SF Chronicle
Please add to the list
List of publications worth the while
WSJ,
Washington Times
Others anyone?
Read it and weep, liberals. The WSJ and the Post didn't get these big gains because they are conservative. They got them because they are balanced, and because they actually print the news. They are conservative only in contrast to the rest of the media, which have moved so far to the left that they are a laughingstock to anyone with sense.
People may be willing to put up with a reasonable amount of bias, but not with outright lies, distortion, and suppression of the facts.
If I were a stockholder in the NYT or Washington Post I'd be furious. They are using their stockholder's money for political contributions.
Well, people generally want truth, accuracy, and integrity in a newspaper. Some papers have those things, some ignore them.
All in all, a pretty darn good paper. They still use AP stories, though. Can't have everything...
Good news bump.
(I'd like to see the numbers for LA Times, Wash Times, NY Sun)
Where do you get a newspaper, anyway?
"Overall, this was not a terribly bad period,"
Give me a break, in wartime you can't increase circulation and you call that 'not a terribly bad period'?????
We keep our local, The Virginian-Pilot simply because I need litter paper, sports and ads.
I have given up reading the darn thing. You'd think that in a conservative area, they would at least acknowledge that fact. They have run the most insulting, base and demeaning "comics" about President Bush and have never given the man an inch.
I've complained, but it doesn't help.
Every Conservative inside the Beltway - not affectionately - calls it "The Washington Compost"
"Journalistic Fraud" by Bob Kohn.
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| Section: Data Center Audit Bureau of Circulations
But 'USA Today,' 'WSJ' and 'New York Post' buck trend with large six-month gains THERE'S GOOD NEWS at the top of the chart for newspapers, as the two largest newspapers saw circulation spike significantly and four of the top five notched gains. For the industry at large, though, it was another version of the same movie that's long been playing out amid the landscape of local newspapers. Circulation continues to erode. Of the top 50 newspapers as ranked by daily circulation, 26 posted declines. An analysis of the most recent circulation data-which is tabulated by Audit Bureau of Circulations-conducted by the Newspaper Association of America found only 37% of the 836 papers audited posted circulation gains. The average newspaper, according to the NAA, posted a 0.1% daily circulation loss. BAD NEWS ON SUNDAYFor Sunday newspapers-the bulked-up formats of which account for a disproportionate share of revenues at major dailies-the NAA found that the news was worse. Average Sunday circulation was off 0.9%. These figures represent a worse performance than for the previous six-month period, which ended Sept. 30. In those six months, the NAA found the average daily posted a 0.2% circulation increase and a 0.4% decline on Sunday. The biggest gainer of the top 50, Dow Jones & Co.'s Wall Street Journal, saw a massive 15.4% increase, owing overwhelmingly to the fact it's now allowed to count online subscribers in its tallies. The other big gainer, News Corp.'s The New York Post, rose 9.3%, thank to aggressive pricing strategies, strong sports and business pages, and the sort of jugular-seeking subtlety one expects from properties owned by Rupert Murdoch. But its tabloid rival, the Daily News, notched a 1.4% increase in its circulation. In doing so it avoided allowing the surging Post to erase its lead in raw numbers despite a string of serious gains. The New York Times showed a slight gain of 0.3% for daily, and 0.2% for Sunday. The ABC's data also testifies to the industry's reliance on a circulation category called "other paid," which are copies bought in bulk by businesses such as hotels and airlines for at least 25% of basic subscription price. The biggest major player in "other paid" remains Gannett's USA Today, which derives 47.5% of its weekday circulation from this source. But a host of other top 50 newspapers lean heavily on "other paid" circulation. Among them: Knight Ridder's Miami Herald (20.3%); The Wall Street Journal (16%); Tribune Co.'s South Florida Sun-Sentinel (17.9%) and Los Angeles Times (12.0%); Cox Newspapers' Atlanta Journal-Constitution (12%); and MediaNews Group's flagship Denver Post (13.3%). TOP 50 NEWSPAPERS BY CIRCULATIONRanked by weekday averages for six-months ended March 31, 2004 Legend for chart: Notes: Percent change computed against six month averages for the period ending March 31, 2003. * USA Today's Friday circulation is listed in the Sunday column. Its weekday circulation average is Monday through Thursday only. a) Weekday averages include Saturday. b) Figures were adjusted by Ad Ageto estimate average weekday circulation for both years. c) Detroit Free Press and Detroit News have combined Sunday edition; d) Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post have combined Sunday edition. e) Combined Sunday edition with Seattle Post-Intelligencer. ~~~~~~~~ By Jon Fine |
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