Newspapers Doing Their Part for the Planet

Thanks to ever-declining circulation, fewer dead trees are needed for the newspaper business:

NEW YORK The Audit Bureau of Circulations released circulation numbers for more than 700 daily newspapers this morning for the six-month period ending September 2007. Of the top 25 papers in daily circulation (see chart, separate story), only four showed gains.

For The New York Times, daily circulation fell 4.51% to 1,037,828 and Sunday plunged 7.59% to 1,500,394, at least partly due to a price increase.

Daily circulation at The Washington Post was down 3.2% to 635,087 and Sunday was down 3.9% to 894,428.

Daily circulation at The Boston Globe tumbled 6.6% to 360,695 and Sunday fell about the same, 6.5% to 548,906.

The Wall Street Journal was down 1.53% to 2,011,882 daily but USA Today posted a gain of 1% to 2,293,137.

The New York Post slipped this period with daily circ down 5.2% to 667,119 and Sunday fell 5% to 405,486. The New York Daily News also showed declines in daily circ down 1.7% to 681,415 while Sunday decreased 6.8% to 726,305.

Chicago Tribune - daily circulation slipped 2.9% to 559,404 and Sunday fell 2% to 917,868.

It's sister publication, the Los Angeles Times grew slightly up 0.5% to 779,682 while Sunday fell 5.1% to 1,112,165.

Daily and Sunday circulation at the San Francisco Chronicle has stabilized, down 2.9% to 365,234 and 0.6% to 430,115, respectively.

Both The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News experienced deep declines -- over 10%.

The Philadelphia Inquirer slipped on Sunday but gained 2.3% daily.

At one time I was taking two daily newspapers - the Los Angeles Times in the morning and the Orange County Register in the evening. After being total infuriated with the Times constant attacks on Republicans I dropped that subscription, and when the Register dropped their evening edition I started taking them in the morning. A few months ago I cut that subscription back to weekends only, and even then I don't read it. We basically take it for the coupon and ad supplements on Sunday. Otherwise, it goes right into the recycle bin. With so much news available from hundreds of sources (including newspapers) online, a daily newspaper is no longer a necessity.

From the numbers above, a lot of other people are coming to the same conclusion.