Black and White and Read How Much?

By Margaret Lyons in News on Nov 5, 2007 9:40PM

The Audit Bureau of Circulation released its Fas Fax data today, giving newspaper ombudsmen everywhere a topic for tomorrow's column. Too bad everyone's going to write largely the same story: Newspaper circulation is down. Circulation is down 2.6 percent across all major US daily newspapers, with the Trib faring worse than other papers, falling 2.9 percent over the last six months to a paid weekday circulation of 559,404. That makes the Trib the eighth biggest paper in America, behind USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the LA Times, the New York Daily News, the New York Post and the Washington Post. The Sun-Times doesn't get to report circulation because it's still being punished for false circulation info from a few years ago.

Not every newspaper's circulation was down. Some smaller papers' readership grew, including Aurora's Beacon News, whose circulation increased 7.49 percent to 27,563. Under the Trib umbrella, Hoy's circulation increased 40 percent, and RedEye's increased 33.

While daily paid circulation is obviously important, it doesn't take into account how many non-subscribers read newspapers' websites.

Honor box line-up by Josephp.