By: Jennifer Saba The Audit Bureau of Circulation's March FAS-FAX set off landmines with reports of steep declines at many papers, most prominently some top Tribune Co. properties. The September numbers are not much more encouraging.
For the six months ending in September, ABC recorded a 2.6% decline in daily paid circulation over the previous year for the 789 newspapers studied. Sunday circulation fell 3.1%.
Here are some specifics from the new FAS-FAX report compared to September 2004:
The San Francisco Chronicle's daily circ is down 16.5% to 400,906 copies, a huge drop. Sunday circulation fell 13.5% to 467,216. The Los Angeles Times is down about 3.7% to 843,432 daily copies. On Sunday the paper reported a decrease of roughly 3.4% to 1,247,588 copies. (* See correction below).
The Orlando Sentinel took a huge hit, with daily circulation down around 11% to 219,838. The Chicago Tribune's daily circ fell around 2.5% to 586,122 daily copies. Sunday fell 1.3% to 950,582. Circulation at The Sun in Baltimore also decreased. Daily circ is down 8.5% to 247,193 and Sunday is down 7.7% to 418,670.
The Tribune Co. expects an overall decline of 4% for daily and Sunday copies -- excluding Newsday. According to the report, Newsday numbers are "withheld pending completion of six-month audit."
At the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, daily circ is down 3.9% to 249,090. Sunday circ fell 5.2% to 278,420. The Miami Herald is down 4.3% daily, and 3.6% on Sunday. The Philadelphia Inquirer is down about 3% with daily circ at 357,679. Sunday circ is down roughly 4.5% to 714,609. The Daily News in Philadelphia dropped almost 11% to 121,093 daily copies.
Knight Ridder said overall circulation for the company decreased about 2% for daily copies and about 3.5% for Sunday copies.
The Washington Post reported a drop in daily circulation, down 4% to 678,779. Sunday decreased roughly 4% to 965,919.
USA Today's daily circ slipped a bit, by 0.5% to 2,296,335.
One of the more surprising and discouraging numbers comes from The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. Despite breaking countless stories related to the state's "Coingate" fiasco and other political corruption scandals this year, presumably stories of great public interest, the paper took a circ hit. Sunday circulation dropped more than 8,000 to 175,521, while average weekday circulation dropped 6,000 to 133,498.
The Arizona Republic in Phoenix is down slightly, 0.5% to 411,043 daily copies. Sunday circ showed declines of 2.4% to 517,699.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution dropped 8.7% to 362,436 daily copies. Sunday was down almost 5% to 570,126.
McClatchy broke its 20-year winning streak this period. Daily circulation, it said, dropped around 1% while there was a "steeper decline" on Sunday.
The Star Tribune in Minneapolis lost a bit in daily, down 0.2% to 374,528. Sunday the paper took a hit, down 6% to 636,977.
The Boston Globe said its circulation plummeted this period. Daily circ dropped 7.7% and Sunday circ is down 7%. Executives said the Globe is managing down its "other-paid" circulation.
The New York Times reported tiny gains with daily up 0.4% and Sunday up 0.1%. The increases came mostly from the paper's national effort. Circulation for the New York City area declined.
The Wall Street Journal said in a conference call that it reported slight gains in online subscriptions. Overall circ for the paper dipped about 1% to 2,083,660.
The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. gained 50 daily copies, up 0.01% to 400,092.
Daily circ at the Daily News in New York dropped 3.7% to 688,584. Sunday fell slightly, 0.7% to 781,375. Meanwhile the New York Post lost daily circ, down 1.7% to 662,681. Sunday dropped 6.3% to 425,279.
* An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the Los Angeles Times' daily circulation decline to be 6.5%. The higher number arose from an erroneous comparison of earlier Monday-Saturday numbers to the paper's current Monday-Friday figure. The correct weekday circulation decline is 3.7%.
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