Anatomy of a Disaster: Newspaper Circulation Drop Accelerates April-Sep
by PubliusFrom the Associated Press:
Circulation at newspapers shrank at an accelerated pace in the past six months, driven in part by stiff price increases imposed by publishers scrambling to offset rapidly eroding advertising sales.
Average daily circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers plunged 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month stretch last year, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
It’s the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade’s steady decline in paid readership — a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don’t charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales.
The latest decline outstripped a 7.1 percent decrease in the October 2008-March 2009 period and a 4.6 percent decline in last year’s April-September window.
As both publications indicated earlier in the month, The Wall Street Journal surpassed USA Today as the top-selling newspaper in the United States. The Journal’s average Monday-Friday circulation edged up 0.6 percent to 2.02 million — making it the only daily newspaper in the top 25 to see an increase.
USA Today suffered the worst erosion in its 27-year history, dropping more than 17 percent to 1.90 million. The newspaper, owned by Gannett Co., has blamed reductions in travel for much of the circulation shortfall, because many of its single-copy sales come in airports and hotels.
The New York Times stayed in third place at 927,851, down 7.3 percent from the same period of 2008. Its Sunday edition remained the top weekend seller at 1.4 million, a decrease of 2.6 percent.
Sunday circulation at all the newspapers covered in the ABC survey fell 7.5 percent in the latest six-month span.
The circulation numbers are just the latest sign of distress in the shrinking newspaper industry.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Chavez and DRIP USA, Big Government. Big Government said: Anatomy of a Disaster: Newspaper Circulation Drop Accelerates April-Sep: From the Associated Press: Circulatio.. http://bit.ly/6Xnvc [...]
Print some TRUTH and I will buy your damn paper!
Amazing statistics regarding the print media.
When will the Obama Administration Bailout of Pravda commence?
[...] More here: [...]
Hasn't the Obama Administration signaled recently, that they are thinking about subsidizing the Print Media? Backing losers against wnners?
Big media might be too big to fail…
This is why FNC, the Drudgereport, Lucianne.com, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Mark Davis, Laura Ingraham ect are the most trust name in news. They tell the truth no matter what or how bad it is. Theyre doing what the newspapers USED to do, not anymore.
If you are concerned about our Country and the direction it is going, please sign our "common sense" petition
http://myfreepress.net/petitions/dont-tread-on-me
Thank you for your support if you have already signed. Also sorry to post off topic!
If the Print Media fail, there'll be fewer news outlets willing to ignore the "Real News".
Of course I forgot to add another trusted name in new is BigGovernment.com.
Rita, my point exactly!
A result of newspaper profit losses: New York Times to Reduce Costs and Increase Transparency By Not Using Ink and Paper on Reports Critical of Administration Agenda http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-york-time...
so will the Government go into the newspaper business now ? That thought really scares me.
SHOCKING, I tell you… Just SHOCKING ! Who would have thought that the Statist print media subscriptions, advertising revenues and financial losses would result from the leftsit lies spewed forth daily. Scratching head…
Whooda thunk it ? When America is clearly RIGHT OF CENTER !
Ummmm.. PINCH ? (cracking up)….
I'm not sure the papers losses are ideological, as carville would say-its the internet stupid. The people who used to just read newspapers are dying off. I used to try to read 5 papers a day-wall st journal, ny times, washington post, my local, and washington times, that was like 2-3 years ago. Now I dont read any, i get everything i need from the web. I dont get quality local news coverage from the web, just some local blog sites. I think the future for newspapers may be in quality local news coverage, but the newspapers are axing their reporters.
Pravda (Truth, in Russian) will not be bailed out because it is a more truthful newspaper than the NY Slimes, Washington (Com)Post or LA Slimes. Sad testimony to how low our great American journalism has fallen.
The big newspaper ceo’s have already had a meeting in which they are going to start charging for online readership. The big newspapers, have NO ONE to blame except themselves because they choose to print liberal leftist articles. I was a former reader of the Star Tribune/Mpls/St Paul. But, they hired staff to delete online posted blogs that were NOT liberal leftist leaning. The St Paul Pioneer Press, is not that far behind in the liberal leftist print. After, BigGovernment exposed mainstream media for undercoverage/no coverage of the truth-I will NOT read lies! They have no one to blame, but themselves.
I can see the writing on the wall. The zero’s admin has already said they are thinking of bailing out the newspaper industries. While they are doing that they are working on restricting the internet and going after AM talk radio (read Rush). The old liberal playbook is up and running, if you can’t beat them,cheat. Look for this to repeat itself with elections if they are close too. I wish I could just sit back and eat the popcorn and burn the newspapers in my fireplace but somehow I don’t think that Odumbo is going to let his mouthpieces go the way of the dinosaur do you? Time for some more Tea Parties and marches on Washington if they try to pull this commie c–p off.
Stay tuned.
Unfortunately, if NO body is reading these lies or buying these papers we're probably headed for one Obama to bailout these papers on our tax dollars. Another government takeover-this time though it will affect those people who have no idea of the "real truth." With mainstream media still NOT covering the truth-millions of people still have no idea of how they are being scammed. I speak to complete strangers regarding this issue when out in public. Get the word out ! It's your children's, grand children's future. We can NO LONGER, stand by idly and wait for decency/truth.
For clarification, I used the term "Pravda" not pertaining to it specfifcally, but as a catch all phrase referring to the collective MSM print media.
When will they figure out that it has to do with their reporting. We cancelled our paper when we saw that they never covered what we felt were important issues! Yet would show up for a party of 2 acorn nuts with matching t-shirts. Our local paper, the Denver Post, lowered the rate so low, they are practically giving it away so that they can claim that circulation is up. We continued to have the Sunday paper delivered for 1 dollar per month. We had only paid for 6 months and they are still delivering, FREE. We do subcribe to the WSJ! More fair!
instead of running to the govt. to bail them out, dont you think, in the long run, it would be smarter for newspapers to respond to their customers and offer news that customers want. Like Murdoch does with the wall st journal which is finacially healthy. I would think news executives are trying to gain more subscribers. I dont see how the govt. could justify bailing out newspapers especially when they need their independence to provide unbiased news to the public. We the People cant have biased news coverage. We need unbiased news, neither right or left slanting.
"Paper of Record" isn't about circulation numbers. It's a term that defines a newspaper whose integrity and high standards in fact checking would be the definative source on an issue. The lefty bastardized unreliable NYT's lost that title ages ago. It clearly belongs to the WSJ now.
Never fear. Liberals are pressing Obama to tax successful media avenues, (listening Big Government) and provide a subsidy to keep "Local" newspapers and magazines going. Liberals also are pushing for legislation to ensure diversity and social economic factors are included.
Don't get jealous, but I live on Maui. A conservative here is as rare as snow on Haleakala, (our volcano). The Maui News stopped blogging entirely by reason its Liberal editorial staff could not handle conservative commentary. This was done after complaint by several well known community activist groups, the Pacific Whale Foundation, and Maui Tomorrow pressuring to stop it. Surprise surprise the News is failing. Another local Liberal publication went out of business last year.
There comes a time in the course of human events ….
I've thought about this. My thinking is that the newspaper industry in many markets set themselves up for failure in an internet age by slowly over the years consolidating and cutting back here and there and using more AP/Reuters stories right off the wire.
You'd have a local paper with 5 local stories and sports and jammed full of AP/RET politically correct articles and columns and the lefty-press angle on everything. So people like us ( conservatives…. the majority ) slowly but surely start seeking out news that is even-handed or objectively written and CONTEXT to judge for ourselves.
I used to really enjoy reading the newspaper and I used to read 2 or three. Now I glance at the paper that they leave around at work in the break-room. It's not worth supporting and they're saying around here our Fort Worth paper is on the brink of stopping circulation.
I don't know if it is possible to do a paper the way it should be done with local reporters and editorials. Stop the extreme reliance on AP/Reuters stories (and bias). How about if you had an even-minded local paper that took AP/Ret stories and cleaned them up and made them more objective or added perspective. I would read that… say if a paper ran an AP article and then put in contextual content throughout ( like blogs do).
But the newspaper industry has largely created this mess for themselves exacerbated by the lefty and PC articles that come from the AP and Reuters, et al. Not enough money for real reports or stories and no time for context or information for the reader.
You do mean to say take over right? He is doing such a good job running the auto industry but at least he will have total control of what they say. If they are losing money why would WE the people want to buy into it.
JERK!!!
not you madrift, now I am just venting.
There comes a time, when all good men need stand up and be counted…………
"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, is that good men to do nothing."
~ Edmund Burke ~
The time is now.
Look at any average paper, how much of it is news or worth reading across the board. By the time they print about so and so in the entertainment field we have heard it, so we no longer bother reading it. Take most topics and it is the same. News being the keyword, they fall far behind in delivering it. Local papers still have some following but they too will follow the trend.
I think ideology will not be a big factor in the demise of the papers.
[...] Number 13, unlucky for some. Regular readers may recall in May of this year the Republic attempted to parlay a minuscule uptick in Sunday subscriptions, long since reversed, as a sales boost to con advertisers whilst totally ignoring the concurrent weekday slump. What makes their achievement even more remarkable is that they have managed to crater circulation even as Maricopa county was the fastest growing county in the entire United States, according to the US Census Bureau, Maricopa County, Ariz., gained 696,000 residents between 2000 and 2006, the largest numerical increase of the nation’s 3,141 counties, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. This increase surpasses the total population of all but 15 U.S. cities. Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, has 3.8 million residents, making it the nation’s fourth largest county As their numbers get worse they seem to think it is a good idea to raise prices, as if people will pay more for what they already perceive to be a poor product. The other problem, apart from the almost universal liberalism that riddles their articles, is that by the time a newspaper hits your front yard, the news within is at least one day old, and often more. Most people get up to date news whilst on-line checking their email. Looks like they will solve that problem with their usual competence, Newsday, a Long Island daily, said last week that it plans to start charging people who don’t subscribe to its print edition $5 a week for access to its Web site. Newsday’s circulation dropped 5.4 percent in the latest reporting period, to 357,124. Oh sure, like that’s going to happen. Returning to the AZ Republic, perhaps it is their content that is driving readers away? In Sunday’s edition they had a mind-numbingly boring story in the “A” section of the paper on the trials and tribulations of Egyptian camel meat traders, as they struggled to cope with the recession. I am not kidding! For whom was this written? In a way, I will miss newspapers when they finally disappear, and they surely will, but it is a price they must pay for shamelessly championing Barry without even a rudimentary check into his background. These days they are little more than White House stenographers eager to toe the company line and stay on message. Obama’s message. They have outlived their usefulness. You might say that they are dying, I prefer to say that they are committing suicide. Patterico’s has more, courtesy of DRJ. Big Government has more. [...]
I understand that. I did tend to run those two thoughts together, in a convoluted sentence. I meant that the Wall Street Journal is now the paper of record, based upon integrity and standards. Further, it has indeed passes USA Today in circulation numbers, passing it in leaps and bounds.
Further, when noting that the WSJ is owned by News Corp., parent of FOX News, it is very interesting to know, that in the thirteen years FOX News has been in business, and on TV, that they have not had to take down one story. That, is CREDABILITY. The rest of the pack can't say that………….
We actually bought a newspaper this weekend. Needed it to start the BBQ!
We used to have a great local paper, the Contra Costa Times. It printed the news, both local and national, fairly, thoroughly, and interestingly. When the owner died in 1993, the paper was sold to Knight-Ridder. I saw an immediate change in tone. Then it was sold again to McClatchy. I cancelled my subscription shortly thereafter.
I, for one, enjoy reading a newspaper. I think there is still a place for newspapers. Maybe not for national news but for substantive local news, news that is actually researched and reported accurately and fairly without the opinion that oh so subtly injected (heavy sarcasm on the subtly) into every story now.
Journalism went the way of the dodo bird when "Lou Grant" hit the air waves!
The press: soft, strong, and thoroughly absorbent.
Thanks for the Commen pazzi t!! Don't worry! Taking over and trying to run the Press, publicly puts their thumb on the scale. Can you imagine a "Press Conference" where 40% of the reporters worked for the Government? Who'd buy a paper from Uncle Sam? Matter of fact, I don't personally know anyone who wants to buy a car from Government Motors, either! This stuff gets sillier day by day! Sure, the pendulum is swinging and it'll keep swinging. We, as Americans must keep up the pressure so that it does swing, all the way back. Reminds me of the Rancher who was training his horse to eat horse manure. He got the horse up to about 60% horse manure and it died. The American people are a lot like that horse….except when they've had all the horse manure they can handle, they won't die…Americans are not dumb brutes. My guess is that we're at about 54% right now. It's impotant that we let Congress know what we want and what we don't want. As I've said before, watch how they vote, make lists, Tea Party and Vote 'em out in 2010 & 2012.
Since the government has taken over so many private companies, does it not also control with whom those companies will place advertising?
More media control.
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Why should the government bail out newspapers when to do away with them would be a great savings on paper and a big help for the environment? Certainly getting news online is cheaper, and easier. Also, if I read a paper, I am (literally) buying their ideology even if I don't agree with it. So, to get a balance of news sources I may have to buy several papers. Online, I can surf left-wing sites, right-wing sites, MSM and anything else. People are much better informed by using the internet. They can search out stories and find out what the papers have repressed. Stories are updated online, while you'd have to wait for the next edition of the paper to come out for updates. Is the 'net infallible? No. We get stories that are wrong or misinterpreted and often overlooked stories, If not for the internet, the NY-23 election is a story that would have been missed and I bet numerous people would have voted for Dede simply because she had an R next to her name and they hadn't heard of Hoffman.
If the NYT was "Fair and Balanced", than they would be a successful rag. Unless Hussein and his Posse of Clowns opt to further burdening your children into poverty by another Bail Out, RIP NYT.
It make one wonder when, if ever the libs will figure out that not only has the game changed, but the field and the fans have too. Lots of reasons why newspapers are failing in the new tech world and instant news reporting along with a 24/7 cycle. They are 'yesterday's news'. But the one glowing disparity is that the WSJ is not suffering the same fate. Again here there are a few different reasons why, the fact that they were able to break the code on running a web site, and get this, that has a viable revenue plan!!! Beyond that the simple and obvious answer is that they report NEWS that matters to people and do so with credibility and no agenda.
Two points to make:
1. Who would read it?
2. Would the EPA allow it?
You can be sure another bail-out is coming, but it may not look like you think. Look at the auto companies, Obama saved the companies for the union. Never before in the history of business has an unsecured creditor been given precedence over the secured(?) investor, until GM and Obama. He in effect gave the company to the unions and bailed out their pension funds (which the leadership had embezzled into oblivion) and put the screws to the investors. Once the union effectively owned the company they were quick to realize the irony they had won. If they were the majority shareholder, who could they strike against? Hard to champion the victims while victimizing them, when you are the man in charge. What they would strike themselves and negotiate with themselves? Ludicrous. It is hard for me to see anything bright in the future for GM or us taxpayer / owners when the people who destroyed the company (unions) are now running it. The world has gone mad and Obama threw out the rule book. That being the case we need to make the new rules, lest he make them for us.
Newspapers going out of business has nothing to do with left or right or the quality of the journalism. It's just the same thing that destroyed the music business, what used to cost $ is now free. Why buy a paper when you can read the news free online?Why buy a cd when you can get music for free? Books will be the next industry to fall as young people start to use Kindles and other devices and figure out how to bootleg +download books. Eventually maybe someone will realize that content cannot be both free and quality in the long run.
I don't see the point of a bailout, but I do think it's terrible to see all the papers going under. Where are all the web sites going to link to when the reporters all are fired?
How odd, I just read an article in Pravda about the US sliding into socialism.
It’s time to put down the Old Gray Lady, Boston Globe, CNN, MSNBC : THey do not report the NEWS they report the left news, do ne research tell lies i.e. Rush quotes etc etc this has goe on for too long and the people have caught on.
OMG!!!! What will Rahm Emanuel wrap his dead fish in when he wants to send "a gift" to those who disagree with him??
Chicago Tribune GONE, even the little Oswego Sentinal/Ledger has a vaery liberal bias and it GONE. Never again in my home!
Most of us that have access to the internet or have cable have a better chance of hearing/seeing the truth. I was “brainstorming” on how we could let the millions of people that have no access or who don’t know how they are being scammed on how to get this information to them. One way, would to make a “one sheet(of paper)information” and attach to the windshields of cars. Canvassing shopping malls, known SEIU hospitals/nursing homes, grocery parking lots. Anywhere people park their car. This would cost money and time. Since mainstream media has been threatened-we need to take this into our own hands. I personally don’t have the financial backing or access to printing presses. I know the chamber of commerce is angry-any ideas?????
My Senator, Ben Cardin of Maryland, wants to bail out the Newspaper Industry. Come election day who's going to bail you out Ben?
Actually papers like the NY Slimes, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times going out of business might not be a bad idea. Then maybe the next good thing would be for left wing loony stations like MSNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC and CBS to go out of business too. Perhaps they could be replaced by independent NON-government run small businesses that employ HONEST journalists that actually care about reporting the truth instead of lying, distoring, covering up and playing the American public for fools. But that won't happen. The newsprint and lying MSM networks are already lining up their government bailout so that they can push their deceitful lying agendas!
Freedom of the press is freedom to sensationalize the news that fits the news media elite's agenda and omit (censor) that news whicht would cast doubt on their agenda. Also freedom of the press allows media elite to publish every intelligent letter they get from their readers who support their agenda and refuse to publish 99.9% of the intelligent letters they get from their readers pointing out why their agenda is bad.
Im from the web genaration and i still read the paper im only a teen but i still find the newspaper to be a very reliable sorce for the news.
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