Few newspaper gainers show in latest ABC tabulation

Most newspapers’ circulation continues to head south, sure to sprout more gray hairs for publishers and editors, notes Grumpy Editor.

Some major dailies took big hits in a Monday report from Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Falling readership coupled with declining advertising revenue has management focusing on how to boost bottom lines.

No sooner were latest circulation figures released when the St. Petersburg Times announced it is cutting stock listings and combining its standalone business section with the Metro section next month.

At the same time, the News and Observer, Raleigh, N.C., a McClatchy Co. newspaper, announced it is offering buyouts to 230 of its 900 employees.

Changes in daily circulation figures, percentagewise, announced by ABC, for the six months ended March 31, compared to the like-period a year ago:

Biggest circulation losers were The Orange County Register, off 11.9 percent; Miami Herald, down 11 percent; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, slipped 8.5 percent; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, dropped 8.5 percent, and Boston Globe, decreased 8.3 percent.

Among others headed downward:  Los Angeles Times off 5.1 percent; Chicago Tribune, dropped 4.4 percent; San Francisco Chronicle, down 4.2 percent; New York Times, fell 3.8 percent; Washington Post, lost 3.5 percent.

On the bright side with modest gains (all under 1 percent) among high-circulation newspapers: The Wall Street Journal, up 0.3 percent; USA Today, 0.27 percent higher, and Baltimore Sun, a 0.1 percent rise.

Biggest gainer in newspapers of more than 50,000 circulation is El Diario/La Prensa, New York’s largest and oldest Spanish language daily newspaper, with a 7.61 percent jump.  Coming in second is The Times, Munster, Ind., with a 3.01 percent rise.  Ten other gainers all were under 2 percent.