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NEW YORK Average paid weekday circulation of the nation's 20 largest newspapers for the six-month period ending March 31, as reported Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The percentage changes are from the comparable year-ago period.

1. USA Today, 2,272,815, up 0.09%

2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,049,786, down 1%

3. The New York Times, 1,142,464, up 0.5%

4. Los Angeles Times, 851,832, down 5.4%

5. The Washington Post, 724,242, down 3.7%

6. New York Daily News, 708,477, down 3.7%

7. New York Post, 673,379, down 0.7%

8. Chicago Tribune, 579,079, up 0.9%

9. Houston Chronicle, 513,387, down 3.6%

10. The Arizona Republic, 438,722, down 2.1%

11. Newsday, Long Island, 427,771, down 2.7%

12. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 398,329, up 0.9%

13. San Francisco Chronicle, 398,246, down 15.6%

14. The Boston Globe, 397,288, down 8.5%

15. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 365,011, down 6.7%

16. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 362,964, down 2.9%

17. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 350,457, down 5.1%

18. Detroit Free Press, 345,861, up 0.04%

19. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, 343,163, down 1.6%

20. St. Petersburg Times, Florida, 323,031, down 4.4%


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Two major newspapers deferred filing for the period pending completion of their next six-month audit. The Dallas Morning News and the Chicago Sun-Times had previously been excluded from the report as a part of a penalty for misstating circulation figures. Newsday, which had also been censured for misstating circulation, began reporting again with this period.