ABC Top 25 (March '08)

1. USA Today, 2,284,219, up 0.3 percent
2. Wall Street Journal, 2,069,463, up 0.4 percent
3. New York Times, 1,077,256, down 3.9 percent
4. Los Angeles Times, 773,884, down 5.1 percent
5. New York Daily News, 703,137, down 2.1 percent
6. New York Post, 702,488, down 3.1 percent
7. Washington Post, 673,180, down 3.6 percent
8. Chicago Tribune, 541,663, down 4.4 percent
9. Houston Chronicle, 494,131, down 1.8 percent
10. Arizona Republic, 413,332, down 4.7 percent
11. Newsday, Long Island, 379,613, down 4.7 percent
12. San Francisco Chronicle, 370,345, down 4.2 percent
13. Dallas Morning News, 368,313, down 10.6 percent
14. Boston Globe, 350,605, down 8.3 percent
15. Newark Star-Ledger, 345,130, down 7.4 percent
16. Philadelphia Inquirer, 334,150, down 5.1 percent
17. Cleveland Plain Dealer, 330,280, down 4.2 percent
18. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 326,907, down 8.5 percent
19. Minneapolis Star Tribune, 321,984, down 6.7 percent
20. St. Petersburg Times, Florida, 316,007, down 2.1 percent
21. Chicago Sun Times, 312,274, n.a.
22. Detroit Free Press, 308,944, down 6.5 percent
23. Portland Oregonian, 304,399, down 4.8 percent
24. San Diego Union-Tribune, 288,669, down 2.6 percent
25. Sacramento Bee, 268,755, down 3.7 percent

 

That is depresssing.

 

Which more?

That it's down big generally, or that the multicolor fishwrap and the Murdoch-owned WSJ are up?

 

The three worst drops were the Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Boston Globe.

Didn't all three just go through massive newsroom cuts in the last year or two? And can you make the argument that the reduction in quality that comes with such cuts might have something to do with the plummeting circulation?

Throwing that out for debate.

 

Or were the massive newsroom cuts a response to the dwindling circulation?

I don't know the answer to that question, just throwing it out as another possibility. And I also recognize that JB's questions and mine are not mutually exclusive.

 

Can I pick both?

 

Sometimes big cuts are a result of scaling back of home delivery to outlying areas.

At least that's what I keep telling myself.

 

The Sunday numbers are more depressing. Not a single top 25 paper gained or maintained circulation. Every single one had a drop. The worst being Denver that lost more than 100,000 readers in six months, that could be explained by something else. I don't know the scene that well over there.
Only two papers are over a million, this time five years ago, six papers were over the one million mark for Sunday.

Newspaper Name -- As of 03/31/08 -- As of 03/31/07 -- % Change

THE NEW YORK TIMES: 1,476,400 -- 1,627,062 -- (-9.26%)
LOS ANGELES TIMES: 1,101,981 -- 1,173,095 -- (-6.06%)
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: 898,703 -- 940,621 -- (-4.46%)
THE WASHINGTON POST: 890,163 -- 930,989 -- (-4.39%)
DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK: -- 704,157 -- 775,544 -- (-9.20%)

HOUSTON CHRONICLE: 632,797 -- 677,425 -- (-6.59%)
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: 630,665 -- 672,953 -- (-6.28%)
DETROIT FREE PRESS: 606,374 -- 639,531 -- (-5.18%)
DENVER POST/ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS: 600,026 -- 704,169 -- (-14.79%)
STAR TRIBUNE, MINNEAPOLIS: 534,063 -- 574,385 -- (-7.02%)

BOSTON GLOBE: 525,959 -- 562,273 -- (-6.46%)
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: 520,215 -- 563,079 -- (-7.61%)
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC: 515,523 -- 541,757 -- (-4.84%)
NEWARK STAR-LEDGER: 500,382 -- 570,523 -- (-12.29%)
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: 497,149 -- 523,687 -- (-5.07%)

NEWSDAY: 441,728 -- 464,169 -- (-4.83%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES: 432,779 -- 430,893 -- 0.44%
CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER: 428,090 -- 442,482 -- (-3.25%)
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: 424,603 -- 438,006 -- (-3.06%)
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: 414,564 -- 407,754 -- 1.67%

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, TIMES: 409,231 -- 423,634 -- (-3.40%)
NEW YORK POST: 401,315 -- 439,202 -- (-8.63%)
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL: 384,539 -- 400,317 -- (-3.94%)
THE SUN, BALTIMORE: 372,970 -- 377,561 -- (-1.22%)
THE OREGONIAN: 361,988 -- 375,914 -- (-3.70%)

 

I suspect some genius should figure this out.
Fast.