Old Media business reporters have a definitionally-incorrect habit of labeling single industries or economic sectors as being "in recession," when the term, as defined here, can only describe national economies or the world economy. Two examples of this are New York Times reporter David Leonhardt's description of manufacturing as being in recession in February 2007 (laughably incorrect, in any event), and the Times's employment of the term "housing recession" 25 times since October 2006, as seen in this Times search (with the phrase in quotes).
But if I wanted to be consistent with this routine form of journalistic malpractice, I would characterize the newspaper business -- at least in terms of the top 25 in the industry's food chain -- not as being in recession, but instead as going through a deep, dark, painful, protracted depression.
A look at circulation changes in the past three years shows just how bad it's been for most of them:
(Sources: March 31, 2008 - Editor & Publisher [opens in new window]; March 31, 2005 - Burrelle's [opens in new window].)
Circulation at the top 25 papers in the US is down 7.4% in the past three years. But if you exclude USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, and the New York Post, which have collectively increased circulation by a bit less than 1%, you will see that the other 21 have declined 12.2% during that time -- a decay rate of over 4.4% per year.
Though I didn't work up a table for Sunday circulations, Editor & Publisher reported earlier this week that Sunday circ was down 4.5% in the past year, including a whopping 9.26%, or over 150,000 copies, at the New York Times.
The situation is probably even worse than the numbers indicate. That's because late last year, the industry's Audit Board of Circulations made changes that enabled the papers to include items that had previously been excluded from circ figures. Among the changes:
.... newspapers will be considered paid by ABC regardless of the price for which the copy was sold.
..... there will no longer have to be payment for third-party copies or Newspapers in Education for the circulation to count.
..... Hotel and employee copies, currently under other-paid, will be reclassified under a new paid-circulation category.
Since the Audit Board's announcement of the changes said that "The specifics will take approximately three years to work out," it's not clear how much circ inflation is included in the just-released figures.
Though its print circulation has declined slightly, it needs to be remembered that the Wall Street Journal has more than made up for that small decline with hundreds of thousands of paid, online-only subscribers.
It should not be lost on the industry that the papers with the best reputations for playing the news straight, fair, and balanced are the ones that are holding their own. But if history is any guide, that obvious lesson will continue to be ignored.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
Tom
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 09:41 ET by ricklailI saw a peice in our local paper today that the AJC was cutting circulation to 46 GA counties and 3 NC counties. They were going to layoff about 75 people if I am correct.
"A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself." A.W. Tozer (Pharisee=modern day liberal)
Well there is probably
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 09:52 ET by taterWell there is probably several reasons for this...
most are far left rags (obviously)
older readers are dying
the internet and 24 hr news networks (with the fair and balanced ones kicking the rear end of the lib ones) and most of the news newspapers report are already several hours old
People around here are probably going...DUH!!! But here's the new one...
they may continue to go down since the price of everything else is going up the first things to go are the luxury or nonessential items (and in this day and age getting a newspaper is probably a nonessential)
"They need to have a course in college called common sense and everyone should take it. Problem is there isn't too many people that could pass or teach it." -my grandfather
One caveat to your fine
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 10:30 ET by Roger the ShrubberOne caveat to your fine post, tater. I reported yesterday about how the local eveeel right-wing rag, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, reported a 5% increase in readership, while the local lefty newspaper's Sunday redership was down 3%.
We're talking SW Pa, one of the highest concentrations of elderly in the country. They may be dyin', but they're still buyin'!
Rupert Murdoch.
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 09:59 ET by Missouri ConservativeThe libs in the MSM must really be frosted that the New York Post now has a bigger circulation than the Washington Post. The WSJ is slowly but surely displacing the NY Times as the "paper of record" in this country.
"women and minorities hardest hit"
I am proud to say that I
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 10:02 ET by ThisnThatI am proud to say that I have contributed to the decline of the Boston Globe's circulation. To paraphrase Nathan Hale, "I regret that I only have one subscription to sacrifice for my country".
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
I take great pride and joy
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 10:25 ET by Defector01In seeing these leftist rags die on the vine slowly and painfully. The only question that worries me is how long until they start begging for a handout from the government?
I have only ever made one prayer to God, a very short one: O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous. And God granted it - Voltaire
The Arizona Republic - LOL
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 10:24 ET by habbyguyI couldn't be happier to see that rag's circulation dropping like a rock. We subscribed to it when we first moved into the Phoenix east valley, and almost immediately realized that it was nothing but a compilation of liberal shill opinions, spinning any disaster supported by the Dems into the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Seeing the circulation numbers down 8.6% is even sweeter realizing that the population of Maricopa County (the county containing Phoenix, which has more people than 24 states) has gone UP about 10% in that time.
The writing is well and truly on the wall, but the leftist harpies at the Republic (and most other newspapers) are so immersed in their own tediously constructed form of reality that they are pretty much doomed. No big loss.
Tucson newspapers
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 10:35 ET by DEVILDOCMOMare, of course, not large enough to be in the survey, but I bet the "Red Star" (the Arizona Daily Star) is quite far down also. We still have an afternoon paper, the Tucson Citizen, certainly the lesser of two evils.
The Republic
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 11:07 ET by AzRenegadeThe Republic started it's downhill slide after it was bought by Gannett publishing. The leftist leanings of that rag permeate every single page. It bothers me not one bit to see them bleeding readers and money. I think more honest reporting could be found in the Tehran Times.
AzRenegade
I know our local big area
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 10:49 ET by bigtimerI know our local big area fish-wrap of a paper The Spokesman-Review has had terrible problems with circulation, after a dozen or more years of getting it delivered out here, they had to quit that to all of us customers because of losses about three years ago...made me happy, not my husband as he likes a paper, but it is so far to the left I had quit reading it anymore, they still don't get it either, they are still to the left.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
Is it just the politics?
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 11:09 ET by CaringwhiteguyLet's be fair. The information age is changing rapidly. Alternative sources of news and information (including sites like NewsBusters.org) make the landscape totally different than just a couple years ago. I'd like to crow and say that MSM has dug a huge hole for itself by slanting the news, ignoring important stories and blurring the lines between editorial and news content. Yes indeed, that is certainly a factor. But there's a lot more to the story. There aren't many people with outhouses any more. There aren't a lot of people with rotary dial phones. When is the last time any of you used a slide rule to solve a math problem?
We can only take so much negativity from the press
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 11:15 ET by ThisnThatLook at the list again. The single newspaper that wouldn't be considered leftist is the NY Post, and it's the only newspaper with an increase in actual readership (the USA today leaves countless newpapers unread every day in hotel rooms, probably accounting for their increase in circulatiion). So, given this data point, we could probably point to liberalism as a major contributing cause of the circulation decline.
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
How did you post?
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 13:50 ET by CaringwhiteguyFrom a desk top, a laptop or a Blackberry? Each successive mode is an improved technology. Perhaps you used slate and chalk. If you personally purchased a new slate recently, slate sales would show an increase nationwide. Believe me I agree that MSM has caused much of its own problems by politicizing the news, but that's not everything.
If all newspapers with the exception of the New York Times were conservative, they would likely show circulation declines because of alternative electronic and cyber media. The Times, on the other hand, could quite possibly show an increase because it was the only place for liberals to find news to their liking.
Ahh, but I was careful to
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 13:57 ET by ThisnThatAhh, but I was careful to say that liberalism is a major contributing cause. Because I believe it is true.
We could/might say that the internet is the major cause -- but I'm not sure if this would stand up to scrutiny. Why? Well, look at books. There has been no decrease in book sales (at least I haven't heard of any), even though this was predicted as internet usage increased. Also look at talk radio. Conservative talk rules; liberal talk tanks. That's because no one wants to constantly hear negative comments.
I know this is only two simplistic examples, but you'll need a stronger argument to convince me that liberalism isn't a major factor here.
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If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
Log on. Log off.
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 14:35 ET by CaringwhiteguyHow many log ons does it take someone to read War and Peace? How many log ons does it take to get the baseball scores or today's weather? Would you enjoy leisurely sitting at the beach reading a Clancy thriller on your laptop? Why subscribe to the NYT when you can click on Drudge?
The good news is in 5
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 11:24 ET by dscottThe good news is in 5 years, some of the rabid liberal rags will be out of business. SF Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and Chicago Sun Times all in the minus 20+% range.
Those who will go down the following year after the above three would be those losers in the minus high teens like the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Boston Globe and Detriot Free Press.
The NYT can cut jobs all they want to stave off the red ink, but until they acknowledge their failed business model of propaganda outlet for the left they are doomed to a slow tortuous death. With any luck, the Boston Globe will take the NYT down with it in 6 years. It's really hard to decide if I want to watch Sulzberger twist and squirm for 6 years when the Boston Globe circulation collapses either forcing the NYT to subsidize it's Taxachuettes propaganda outlet increasing the financial drag or watch with glee when they close the doors on that sorry rag.
If you want to make money on MSM stocks, short sell them, because any other means of investing in these is a money loser.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.
Although I read the demise
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 11:27 ET by Roger the ShrubberAlthough I read the demise of biased media with glee, I do not take pleasure in seeing people losing their jobs. If only some of these papers chose reality over idealogy....
Due to aging readership or leftwing bias?
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 12:06 ET by needleIs there a handy measure of leftwing bias that can be applied to these newspapers which can then be correlated with their decreased circulation? If there is any correlation, that could go a long way to dispel the notion that their troubles are the result of an aging [/dying-off] readership.
Impunitas semper ad deteriora invitat.
needle
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 12:16 ET by candanceIt's an undeniable fact that outlets like Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the Wall Street Journal continue to excel while lefty outlets keep going belly up.
When the NYT loses readers, it's because of the internet. When the Weekly Standard gets new subscriptions, it's because of a conspiracy.
Cleveland's The Plain
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 13:05 ET by stratmanCleveland's The Plain Dealer has a whiff of desperation about it. I purchase a subscription for my mother, usually in 3-6 month stints by check. Recently, they offered over the phone a monthly automatic credit card debit of several dollars cheaper per monthly subscription and they threw in a $10 Target gift card.
My savings run $5-7 per month for something I was already purchasing already at a discount off newsstand prices. While it's gratifying to see my suspicions about the paper's fiscal health were correct, this cannot be good for the paper in general. Their recent hire of a very Liberal Editor from California has not helped their bottom line IMO. I suggest they return to neutrality instead of advocacy journalism like the new Editor espouses if they want to remain in business as a leading news service for the area.
RRAM Tough!
I think you guys will like
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 14:40 ET by JasonCI think you guys will like this.
Who can revolt if man has become a simple conglomerate of organs, a person barely free enough to use a remote control to choose his channel? -J. Kristeva
Jason.... Funny, my son
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 14:52 ET by bigtimerJason....
Funny, my son loves The Onion....you may like this too, although it isn't a funny...depending on who you are and how you view it.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
The OsM (Oldstream Media) is gone and they...
Thu, 05/01/2008 - 17:53 ET by Guy Arthur ThomasThe OsM is gone and they know it...buh bye and no thanks for the memorial ceremonies just bury them already!
Next Please! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal.