Despite War, Papers Aren't 'Selling Like Hotcakes'

By: Joe Strupp Preliminary estimates of single-copy newspaper sales for Thursday and Friday, the first editions since the U.S. attack on Iraq, show that newsstand sales are up at a few papers, but not at the level some circulation directors had hoped for.

Although papers are seeing more newsrack and other single-copy activity than usual, those who spoke with E&P said they are not selling out the boosted single-copy press runs that many newspapers provided.

"We are not selling like hotcakes that we had anticipated," said Rocky Swartz, circulation director/operations for The Dallas Morning News, which bumped up its normal single-copy press run by 37,000 on Thursday and 40,000 today. "With escalating coverage on television [on Thursday] it did not leave much news outstanding." Swartz said final numbers were not in, but he expected to sell about 20,000 to 30,000 of the additional copies. "If we had had the [more intensive] type of first strike that was predicted, we would have added 100,000 more copies and expected them to sell out."

Newsday of Melville, N.Y. saw a similar outcome, according to Bob Brennan, vice president/circulation. Of the 20,000 additional single copies printed for Thursday and the 35,000 extra copies on Friday, he expected about half to sell. "Sales were strong, but not at 9/11 sales levels," he said. "A lot of it was based on the expectations of past experience." When Newsday boosted its single copy press run by 20,000 following the 1991 Persian Gulf War invasion, the paper sold out all newsstand editions, Brennan said.

The New York Times, which increased its single-copy run by 195,000 on Thursday and nearly 400,000 today, declined to provide preliminary figures, but called the estimated newsstand sales "very positive," according to spokesman Toby Usnik.