Posted on 11/12/2005 5:55:59 AM PST by madprof98
It didn't take long for the e-mails about The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's declining circulation figures to begin this week.
"Liberals no longer have a monopoly on news sources," wrote one reader. "Just today, I wanted to do some extra reading so I held my nose, put 50 cents in the box, and bought a copy of the AJC. I detest the thought of my money funding a source which promotes a liberal ideology."
And this missive: "Congratulations to you liberal socialists. How does it feel to have your circulation drop . . . People are sick of your diversity and socialist laden 'newspaper.' If it isn't about blacks, Jews, illegal Latinos or how you can redistribute wealth to those who haven't worked for it, it isn't fit for your opinion paper."
I hear this a lot in this job. We'd be naive to think this school of thought hasn't cost us some readers. But many subscribers don't share this view.
"In our surveys we find that Republicans and Democrats are equally likely to read The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," said Stacy Lynch, the AJC's director of innovations. "We also know that more metro residents rate us as moderate or conservative than liberal in our political leanings."
The reality for this newspaper and others is more complex than the perception of political bias. People are reading less frequently, and there are thousands of information sources, many of them delivered free via the Internet.
This week, a report released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations showed a 7 percent drop in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Monday-Saturday circulation and a 4.9 percent drop in Sunday circulation. The report showed a 2.6 percent decline in the average circulation for 789 daily newspapers studied during the six months ending in September, compared to the same time period a year ago. Sunday circulation fell 3.1 percent.
Much of the decline in paid newspaper subscriptions centers on people's changing lifestyles, said Lynch, who is responsible for research and development of new products. She spends most of her time analyzing what readers say about the AJC.
Before coming to the AJC three years ago, Lynch worked for the Readership Institute at Northwestern University, researching how and why people read newspapers nationally.
"People don't have the same morning routine as their parents, who sat down and read the newspaper with their coffee. People are reading us a lot more at work and sharing copies of the newspaper. And they are reading us online."
Instead of spending 20 minutes reading the paper, they may come to ajc.com three or four times a day for a few minutes, scanning the headlines and looking for updates to breaking news stories.
Former AJC editor Ron Martin was one of the first newspaper editors in the country to embrace the Internet and recognize its power for newspaper companies, which are already rich in content but must continue to adapt in terms of delivering content in ways readers find most useful. That early vision led to building Web sites --- ajc.com and accessAtlanta.com --- that are among the most popular newspaper Web sites in the country.
Offering the paper online for free has caused paid subscriptions to go down while readership numbers continue to increase, especially online readership.
Studies of readership --- the number of people who actually read the paper, as opposed to buying it --- show that the AJC reaches 1.3 million people each weekday and more than 2 million people on Sundays.
Between 2002 and 2004, AJC readership held steady on weekdays and increased 6.5 percent on Sundays. When you combine the print and online products, the AJC has a net weekly audience of 2.6 million adults.
"We actually continue to reach more people than we have before," said Lynch. "We estimate that there are 3.7 readers for every copy of the paper."
Those numbers paint a more complete picture of how people consume news and information in the 21st century. They tell us people care deeply about what is going on in their communities and depend on us to inform, challenge and entertain them.
It's unlikely that our editorial board is going to change its political ideology. In the tradition of former editor Ralph McGill, this paper has a rich history of championing the underdog. The people who make up the board are passionate about their beliefs, both liberal and conservative. The AJC's three opinion pages offer a broad spectrum of views.
But a newspaper is so much more than politics. It is a window on the community it serves. The 372,000 people who buy the paper Monday-Saturday and the more than 570,000 people who do so on Sundays --- along with the more than 220,000 unique visitors to our Web sites on an average weekday --- value the news and information they get from the AJC. We are thankful for them.
Metro Atlanta is a diverse and exciting place that has seen great change in the past 20 years. The AJC will continue to change with it --- both in print and online.
[snip]
> Contact Angela Tuck by e-mail at insideajc@ajc. com, by phone at 404-526-5819, by fax at 404-526-5610 or by writing P.O. Box 4689, Atlanta, Ga. 30302.
I wonder how many e-mails she had to sift through in order to find one that brings race into play?
LOL. Your surveys are a joke.
Logic- or math-impaired FReepers miss this point. The decline in readership has hurt conservative papers more than liberal ones, since it's the small conservative ones that have less "cushion" against the high costs. Unfortunately, many cities that used to have two papers and some competition now just have one liberal rag. :-(
The real problem here is that Americans are reading less and care less about being informed, because no young readers are replacing the older reasders who are passing on..
How dare anyone have their own opinion ?
People have been polled in Georgia and have said that the liberal bias of AJC is why they do not take the paper. There used to be a conservative afternoon paper, but the AJC shut it down because of declining circulation. Of course, the conservative paper was far more popular, but that's the thing about liberals...they will all lose their jobs while they mumble it is not us the lifestyle is different than before. Circulation doesn't tell the true story either because I received a full year of Monday-Sunday delivery for $60.00. This is cheaper than buying a Sunday paper (must have coupons). They are giving away the paper almost in order to inflate their circulation numbers. I merely do not read the editorials except for Wooten and a few conservatives from time to time. I do not believe anything I read there. I read the cooking section and the Cherokee section.
So let me see if I can summarize this article:
"Dear advertisers,
While our numbers may be down, our research shows that people still read us. You see, people SHARE their papers now.
And by the way, people who think we are biased are wrong. Keep your advertising dollars here. Please. Pretty please. Don't make us beg.
Love and kisses,
The Atlanta Journal Constitution staff (who have families to feed including small and cute children)."
APf
It is time we stopped calling these liberal rags "newspapers".
They are "Tabloid Magazines" only.
ps. The cooking section is bunk as well. :0)
Yeah, and I estimate 90% of everyone who meets me thinks I am better looking than George Clooney. I love living in a fantasy world, too.
Angela Tuck and Cynthia Tucker - are they related?
That's so far out it's on the outer left arm of the galaxy.
She should tell that to the people who buy ads and to the stock holders of that rag.
Actually I buy the local Cherokee paper..The only reason I even look at the AJC, aside from when I put it in the garbage, is for the girlfriend to get her coupons..
---- The real problem here is that Americans are reading less and care less about being informed, because no young readers are replacing the older reasders who are passing on----
Reading is work. It takes time and thought which consumes carbohydrates in an unpleasant way.
Now, sitting in front of a TV watching your news be fed to you with a dancing bear... THAT is entertaining and informative... well, entertaining.
Conservatives have moved to talk radio and the internet a long time ago. Liberals are moving to the TV and the internet. A huge number of people are just flat turned off and other than catching a political ad on TV, they are playing video games or watching a reality TV show.
"In our surveys we find that Republicans and Democrats are equally likely to read The Atlanta Journal-Constitution," said Stacy Lynch, the AJC's director of innovations. "We also know that more metro residents rate us as moderate or conservative than liberal in our political leanings
The paper has a director of innovations? That alone tells you of the liberal leaning.
NO it’s true. Many of our readers also are subscribers of Workers Daily.
They find that we are centrist or conservative.
The Chicago Tribune runs nothing but women and minorities hit hardest stories in every section, even in the food section the black eyed peas are overcoming "discrimination."
I am hard pressed to think of examples of conservative papers like this. In Atlanta, the afternoon Journal was basically just the morning Constitution with a slightly more conservative editorial page. The news slant was exactly the same since the news stories were mostly pulled off the wire. Perhaps you're thinking of small-town papers, many of which have fallen victim to lifestyle changes. But I don't think people are turning away from the New York Times and its clones for those same reasons.
I get the Cherokee paper also. I love to read. I am probably the last American who really loves to read newspapers- alas not liberal newspapers.
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