Grim times for US newspapers
Average circulation for 379 daily newspapers was down 10.62% for the period April-September this year compared to the same period in 2008. The total circulation was 30.39 million, down from 34 million according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in the US. In a further blow, average circulation for 562 Sunday newspapers was down 7.49%. There are not many positive conclusions one can draw from these numbers. Industry experts predict a much worse future is not far away, when the majority of the surviving newspapers will reach tipping point with nothing but bankruptcies, closures and cutbacks in newsrooms across the US ahead of them. Among the winners, if there are any, is The Wall Street Journal, but on the losing side the leader is The San Francisco Chronicle, which lost more than 25% of its circulation (down to 251,782 copies) and is faced with the distinct possibility of closure, as the owners, Hearst Publishers, have already expressed their annoyance with the money-losing West Coast mainstay newspaper. Grim times, indeed.Read more: AFP, The New York Times
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