Newspaper Circ Down 1.9 Percent

It may not sound like much in the grand scheme of things but this 1.9 percent decrease includes some even more significant numbers. According to the NAA and the latest Audit Bureau of Circulation Fas-Fax, only 29 percent of the reporting 814 newspapers gained circulation during the six months ending March 31. The most visible changes may in the increasingly marginalized Sunday category, down 2.5 percent from the previous to 51,073,104 and in danger of slipping below 50 million. The spin from John Sturm, NAA president and CEO: some of the impact came from “changes in strategy among some publishers to focus on certain categories of higher-readership paid circulation rather than total net paid circulation” while changes in ABC rules also took a toll as did new telemarketing rules. An NAA study shows readership actually remains stable.
E&P has some “>more details. It’s not a pretty sight.
My biggest problem with these numbers — they’re all about a method of distribution and shouldn’t be seen as an indictment of the content of those pages, which large numbers of people also are reading and experiencing online and through other methods. We all know people are getting their news and information in different ways. This is only a part of the picture.

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