Circulation
drop at Conn. dailies less than national average
The Hartford (Conn.) Courant,
the Connecticut Post of Bridgeport, the Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin and
the Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Conn., all had circulation declines
in the latest measured circulation period, from September 2008 through
March 2009, but the newspapers’ circulation decreases were not
as bad as the national average, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
The New Haven (Conn.) Register
even had an increase in daily circulation of 3.2 percent, to 83,064.
Nationally, circulation
dropped for daily newspapers an average of 7.1 percent in the six-month
period ending March 31.
The Hartford Courant’s
weekday circulation fell 5.4 percent, to 155,540. The 8,798-copy decrease
was the latest in a string of circulation losses for the Courant,
which had a weekday circulation of 179,066 in September 2006. The
Courant has since trimmed the size of its paper by 25 percent and
reduced its newsroom to 175 members, including a 60-employee cut in
July 2008. The Courant’s Sunday circulation dipped 2 percent,
to 229,940, while the national average decline for Sunday circulation
was 5.4 percent.
The Connecticut Post’s
weekday circulation slid to 70,405, down 3 percent, in the six-month
period, and the Norwich Bulletin dipped 4.4 percent, to 21,479.
Circulation for the Journal
Inquirer, which began charging for access to its online content in
April, fell 2.8 percent, to 35,252.
The item above
was written from a published report by Jen Slothower, a graduate student
at the Northeastern University School of Journalism and a news staff
coordinator for the Bulletin.
