'E&P YEAR BOOK' SHOWS NEWSPAPER MILESTONES

By: Joe Strupp Sunday Editions At All-Time High, But Fewer Dailies Exist


The U.S. newspaper industry reached several milestones this year,
according to the new 2001 Editor & Publisher International
Year Book. Sunday editions across the country are at an all-
time high, while, for the first time, morning dailies outnumber
evening dailies. On the downside, however, the number of daily
papers is the lowest reported in any of the Year Book's 81
annual editions.

Year Book figures show that, for the 12 months ended Feb.
1, the number of morning dailies increased to 766 from 736, while
evening papers decreased to 727 from 760. Overall, U.S. dailies
dropped to a record low 1,480 from 1,483 the previous year, with
seven daily papers converting to a weekly format and four dailies
added to the directory. (In its tally, the directory includes 13
"all-day" dailies that are counted both as a.m. and p.m. papers,
but only once in the total.)

Only one paper, the State Gazette in Dyersburg, Tenn.,
switched from morning to evening, while 28 papers went from p.m.
to a.m. Those new morning papers included The Seattle
Times, which saw its daily circulation rise to 225,222 from
218,032 after the change. The switch brought the Times
head-to-head with its rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
which lost daily circulation, falling to 168,951 from 185,888.

"There is a real trend to morning newspaper reading," said
Seattle Times Publisher Frank A. Blethen, who also pointed
to growing competition from evening and afternoon TV newscasts.
"People are also reading fewer multiple papers and will choose
the one they can get first, in the morning."

The Year Book also noted that 14 dailies started Sunday
editions in the year ended Feb. 1, raising the number of Sunday
papers to 917, the most since E&P began charting this data
in 1919. Among the papers adding Sunday products were
Hernando (Fla.) Today, The Rockdale Citizen in
Conyers, Ga., and The Sanford (N.C.) Herald.

"More retailers want Sunday ads and readers want to read them --
especially the classifieds," explained Richard T. Rae, publisher
of The Rockdale Citizen.

But while more Sunday editions are in print, overall Sunday
circulation has dropped to 59,420,999 from 59,894,381 in the past
year. Daily circulation also decreased, to 55,772,847 from
55,979,332.

The Wall Street Journal captured the top circulation spot
among daily papers with 1,762,751 copies sold, edging out USA
Today, which boasted 1,692,666. Rounding out the top 10 daily
circulation papers were: The New York Times, Los Angeles
Times, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, Chicago
Tribune, Melville, N.Y.-based Newsday, Houston
Chronicle, and The Dallas Morning News. The New
York Times took the top circulation position for Sunday
papers with 1,682,208 copies sold.

The number of joint operating agreements (JOAs) dipped to 12 from
13 in the past year, the Year Book reported. Those
terminating JOAs included the San Francisco Examiner and
San Francisco Chronicle, which scrapped their 35-year-old
agreement after the Examiner changed owners, and The
Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin, whose
JOA ceased in March. The first new JOA in more than a decade was
created when The Denver Post and Denver Rocky Mountain
News joined forces.

The new Year Book comes in three volumes. Part I provides
in-depth listings for U.S., Canadian, and foreign daily papers,
along with daily newspaper groups, syndicates, news services,
industry associations, and advertising representatives; Part II
includes data on nondailies such as community weeklies, shoppers,
alternative papers, and ethnic publications; and Part III is
devoted to information about newspaper professionals, with
listings of the titles, telephone numbers, and locations of
thousands of industry leaders. The Year Book is available
in print for $205 or on CD-ROM for $895. Orders can be placed by
calling (888) 612-7095.



Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor for E&P.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.