Ahh, but there HAS been a lot of legal action over the past couple of years over true circulation numbers - - several of the dinosaur media publications were caught lying, thereby committing fraud against their advertisers.
I believe this is why there have been lots and lots of layoffs in the newspaper business over the past year or so. The newspapers are afraid to keep cheating so they announce "drops" in circulation and make up for lost revenue by laying people off.
Personally, I wish they would just hurry up and die.
They are still way behind the curve and hiding the salami...If someone in the boardroom blurted out what they thought were the true circ numbers theyd shut it down immediately. Despite the lawsuits, job security is #1.