There are those who say that newspapers are dying out, and they might be right. For years now, the circulation of almost all newspapers has been steadily dropping each year. Some credit this to television, or the internet with it's multitude of free and instant news sources, or the fact that newspapers are doing less original and in-depth reporting and relying more on news services, or that papers can't instantly respond to breaking stories. Whatever the cause, the circulation drop is undeniable.
New figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) show that the dropping circulation trend is continuing. The one bright spot is that the numbers don't seem to be dropping quite as fast as they were for a while. According to the ABC, the average daily circulation of newspapers dropped by 5% in the six month period ending on September. The prior six month period had shown a drop of 8.7%.
Out of the largest 25 newspapers in the United States, only two did not drop in circulation. The Wall Street Journal actually grew by 1.8% and the Dallas Morning News grew by 0.25%. The other 23 top newspapers dropped in circulation. Here in Texas, the Houston Chronicle dropped in daily circulation by by 10.5%, and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram dropped by 8.2%.
Here are the daily circulation numbers (Sunday circulation will be slightly higher) for the 17 largest Texas newspapers (as of 3/31/10):
Houston Chronicle...............366,578
Dallas Morning News...............260,659
Fort Worth Star-Telegram...............165,252
San Antonio Express-News...............146,230
Austin American-Statesman...............143,760
El Paso Times...............72,251
Corpus Christi Caller-Times...............49,327
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal...............41,062
McAllen Monitor..............40,872
Amarillo Globe-News...............39,674
Waco Tribune-Herald...............33,319
Tyler Morning Telegraph...............31,311
Victoria Advocate...............30,096
Beaumont Enterprise...............28,939
Texarkana Gazette...............27,501
Longview News-Journal...............24,760
Wichita Falls Record-News...............24,697
I get the DAM News delivered here to me in West. It used to cost $19 a month..Now it's $39..it was $46, but I bitched and pissed and moaned and wrote letters to the editors, my friends in Canada wrote them letters, ha..they relented and gave me a discount.Only if I allowed them to take the amount out of my account. Some day's it's worth it..but I'm thinking there maybe a time when I can think of more to do with that $39 then reading about how the cowboys blew another game.
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