Circulation
declines nationally and at N.E. dailies
Circulation for 379 daily
U.S. newspapers declined by an average of 10.6 percent for the
six months that ended in September to about 30.4 million -- twice as much a percentage loss as during the
same period last year. Circulation for
562 U.S. Sunday newspapers declined by an average of 7.4 percent to
about 40 million for the comparable periods.
The circulation declines
nationally were mirrored at several New England dailies for the comparable
periods:
• The Boston Globe’s
daily circulation fell 18.4 percent to 264,105 and its Sunday circulation
fell 16.9 percent to 418,523.
• The Boston Herald’s
daily circulation dropped 17.5 percent to 138,260 and its Sunday circulation
dropped 4.4 percent to 95,365.
• Daily circulation
at the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass., declined by 7.8
percent.
• Daily circulation
at The Republican of Springfield, Mass., decreased by 11 percent.
• Daily circulation
at the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass., fell by 9.1 percent.
Daily circulation at the
New Haven (Conn.) Register, on the other hand, increased 0.79 percent
to 70,559.
Editor
& Publisher ranked the top 25 newspapers in the country by
circulation on a daily and Sunday basis, and the Globe ranked
18th daily and 12th Sundays.
The New York Times Co.,
which owns the Globe, earlier this year increased subscriber and newsstand prices to try to raise
circulation revenue, as did the Globe.
Edward Atorino, managing
director at Benchmark Co., based in New York City, said a lot of young
people “have shifted to reading online, given up the newspaper,
or are just getting it on the weekend.”
“It’s terrible,
worse than I thought,” Atorino said of the circulation declines.
Although the Globe’s
daily paid circulation is 264,105, its free Web site, Boston.com,
had 5.2 million page views in September.
Community
papers’ circulation down 2% in 2nd quarter
U.S.
community newspapers’ circulation declined
almost 2 percent collectively from the first quarter to the second quarter this
year, according to an Editor & Publisher report and data from
the Circulation Verification Council.
Of 588 community newspaper publishers surveyed, 45 percent
said circulation increased.
Alternative newsweeklies’
circulation increased by 0.1 percent from the first quarter to the
second quarter and 54 percent reported that circulation increased
in the second quarter.
Shoppers’ distribution
declined by 1 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter
and ethnic publications increased by 0.1 percent.
Tim Bingaman, president
and chief executive officer of the Circulation Verification Council, said
that “overall, the news for community and niche publications
is quite positive considering the economic conditions.”
The items
above were written from published reports by Erin Klopfenstein, a
graduate student at the Northeastern University School of Journalism
and member of the Bulletin staff.
