By: Jennifer Saba It was only a year ago when board members from the Audit Bureau of Circulations convened in a major meeting right on the heels of three newspapers admitting to gross circulation inflation. Certainly, ABC had its hands full last July instituting new regulations to address the problems.
On the eve of this summer's board meeting in Bermuda, however, the mood is more positive and less apprehensive, according to a source close to the organization.
The reason for the more relaxed atmosphere (other than the tropical location) is because ABC cleared many hurdles over the course of the last year. Over the next four days, it's expected that ABC will add polish to those changes already in place.
The two biggest items on the agenda: It's anticipated ABC will unveil the new prototype for day-of-week reporting and announce it has hired 15% to 20% more auditors.
The new reporting format, which is phased-in according to a newspaper's audit schedule, requires a breakout of circulation by each day of the week. In addition, ABC will show combined circulation for print and electronic versions of the paper.
New hires probably were necessary. Since the scandals of last year, audits have taken longer, have been more intensive, and more expensive causing a backlog in audit scheduling. ABC will likely announce that the organization will be caught up with its audits by the end of the year.
Board members are also slated to discuss the next steps regarding the verification of inserts, a new auditing process that ABC plans to offer newspapers. Also: expect tweaks to the third-party rules.
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