AJC, other newspapers continue readership decline
April 28, 2008 at 2:52 pm by Scott Henry in NewsAs if we needed more evidence that daily newspapers are not a growth industry, Editor & Publisher has released more grim statistics. Of the nation’s 25 largest daily newspapers, virtually all of them saw a decline in paid circulation. The only papers to escape a downturn in weekday circ were the two biggest, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, which basically remained static. But c’mon, when is the last time anyone can remember actually buying a USA Today? If it weren’t for hotels and airports, this newspaper wouldn’t exist.
The biggest drop was experienced by the Dallas Morning News, whose weekday circ fell a breath-taking 10.6 percent. Ouch. The next-biggest decline was by our very own Atlanta Journal-Constitution, whose Monday-Friday circulation tumbled by 8.5 percent – to about 327,000 – followed by the Boston Globe, Newark’s Star Ledger and so on. The average drop looked to be somewhere around 4.5 percent.
It also seems that the AJC’s ranking among big-city newspapers slipped a couple of notches. Now the nation’s 18th-largest paper by circulation, it has fallen behind both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Cleveland Plain Dealer since last year. We mention this merely as trivia; only in New York, Chicago and a very few other cities with competing dailies do relative rankings have meaning.
E&P also helpfully lists Sunday circ numbers, and they are even more deflating. The ad-filled Sunday edition is the bread and butter for most newspapers, so this news is especially alarming. The Denver Post/Rocky Mountain News – a combined Sunday edition of the city’s two big dailies – tumbled a stunning 14.8 percent, while Newark readers tuned out to the tune of 12.3 percent. The only major dailies to see small increases in Sunday sales were the St. Petersburg Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The AJC fared slightly better than most, losing only 5 percent of its Sunday circulation since last year, which dropped it just under 5 million copies. This has to be viewed as good news at the AJC, which had seen much-steeper declines in previous months. Even now, AJC staffers and pollsters are feverishly working on what the company calls “AJC 2.0″ – a near-complete overhaul of the Sunday paper that may be unveiled before the end of the year. AJC editor Julia Wallace personally told CL last year that the Sunday paper would likely shrink in size.
The AJC ran an article over the weekend about the new stats, reminding readers that the size of the falloff was partly due to the paper’s decision to shrink its circulation zone in an effort to cut costs. But the headline smacked of Soviet-style spin: “AJC boosts print/online audience.” Polling has shown that, for reasons beyond our ken, AJC.com enjoys one of the healthier readerships among daily newspaper websites. But as any media consultant will tell you, online readers don’t pay the bills.
What does all of this mean for CL and other alternative weekly newspapers? Sorry for the cop-out, but it’s tough to say. One of the reasons for the decline in paid newspaper readership is that, with the ascendancy of the Internet, people have come to view media as something that should be free. But consumption of the printed word – free or otherwise – is slowly declining as well, which doesn’t bode well for newspapers in general.
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April 28th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
A few points. The AJC pulled out of other areas of the state a year ago. Those numbers were largely reflected in the last 6-month Audit Bureau of Circulations report. Moreover, the idea that web readership is comparable to subscriptions is just plain bogus. For example, you might Google “newspaper circulation” and come up with this item by Mr. Henry. That’s not equivalent to picking up the Loaf and reading through it. The reason daily newspapers are losing subscribers is because the publications are no longer essential. They’re fearful and timid in confronting power — the biggest media story of the last decade has been the pathetic performance of newspapers in challenging the lies of the Bush administration. And they’re still doing it. The NYT had a great, 8,000 word story a week ago on how the Pentagon is salting the media with shills, generally retired officers, who spin the administration line. Did the AJC tell its readers about that undermining of democracy? Not according the Lexis Nexis database.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:06 am
John, I disagree with you that content is the main reason newspapers are declining. It may be a contributing factor and I agree newspapers are less agressive than they used to be (although I’m not sure that resonates with most readers).
The main reason is simply this: Why would anyone pay for something when they can get it for free? We can get all our news online (and don’t bring the “can you bring the computer to the john” arugment up because you can — it’s called a blackberry or cell phone).
I’m a lifelong newshound and former journalist, and while I still get the newspaper out of obligation, I don’t look at it. I read the AJC on line or by wireless.
Unfortunately, I don’t see an answer for this that doesn’t involve slashing staff even further and putting most resources toward online content and advertising. I know you don’t like the AJC as a product but I promise you this — if the AJC was doing the best watchdog journalism in the world and was coveirng everything that should be covered, they’d still be losing circulation. The business model is dying.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:45 am
“The reason daily newspapers are losing subscribers is because the publications are no longer essential. They’re fearful and timid in confronting power — the biggest media story of the last decade has been the pathetic performance of newspapers in challenging the lies of the Bush administration. And they’re still doing it. The NYT had a great, 8,000 word story a week ago on how the Pentagon is salting the media with shills, generally retired officers, who spin the administration line.”
Am I just imagining things or did Sugg just quote a critical mainstream news article about the Bush adminstration to prove a point about the mainstream press giving the Bush administration a pass?
Seriously, how does this guy get paid to do this?
Of course he did once uncover that cabal of Hitler Youth masquerading as Emory Young Republicans. I have to give him that.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I think they are losing readership because their editorial boards are so out of touch with mainstream readers.
It’s all about content.
April 30th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Yes, the NYT did a good article. It is one of the few papers left that engages in great journalism. But the NYT is a mixed bag. After all, it provided the propaganda platform for Judith Miller. STill, compared with the AJC or most other newspapers, it’s still worth a few bucks for the Sunday edition.
April 30th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
… let’s not forget Jason Blair, an Editor who openly admitted liberal bias on the editorial page (okay to have it, but rare to admit it) and an editorial writer who so commonly mistates quotes through editing that we now have the term “Dowdified”
“All the news that’s printed to fit” har har har
April 30th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I just noticed the “compared to the AJC”…. talk about damning with faint praise
May 1st, 2008 at 7:30 am
Sugg, by your theory about why the circulation of newspapers is declining the Socialist Worker ought to be the most read newspaper in the country.
Also, how does your theory account for the uptick in circulation at the Wall Street Journal (arguably the most establishment newspaper in the nation)?
I suppose you probably think Rupert Murdoch and his Goebbels- like propaganda machine have hypnotized the masses.
But that is just a guess….
May 1st, 2008 at 7:34 am
I had some more thoughts on newspaper decline.
- Pitiful education and literacy in the US. I can tell people don’t read when I read their job apps.
- Cultural changes like celebrity worship and infotainment programs.
- Journalism scandals that reduce confidence in print media.
- Transparent partisanship in the pages.