News Media News (Updated)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Editor & Publisher reports the Top 25 Daily Newspapers’ circulation for the 6-month period ending September 2009, with the percentage change from the same period ending September 2008. Here are the top 5:
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — 2,024,269 — 0.61% USA TODAY — 1,900,116 — (-17.15%) THE NEW YORK TIMES — 927,851 — (-7.28%) LOS ANGELES TIMES — 657,467 — (-11.05%) THE WASHINGTON POST — 582,844 — (-6.40%)
Click the link for the rest. The news for some newspapers is even worse.
H/T Official Internet Data Office.
— DRJ
UPDATE: Commenter and blogger Gazzer notices that, even though Phoenix is growing, the hometown newspaper is still declining.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha !
DaveinPhoenix (5b0e6d) — 10/26/2009 @ 6:46 pmDaveinPhoenix, our rag came in thirteenth
Gazzer (3bd236) — 10/26/2009 @ 6:50 pmOh yeah, need to renew my Journal sub to our new building. Thanks for reminding me.
Sooner the rest of those dirtbags go under, the better.
Houston Native (7d83f0) — 10/26/2009 @ 6:53 pmInteresting, Gazzer. I’ve updated the post with a link.
DRJ (dff2ca) — 10/26/2009 @ 6:54 pmThanks DRJ, most appreciated.
Gazzer (3bd236) — 10/26/2009 @ 6:56 pmWhy does Starbucks still co-brand with the dirty socialist New York Times? It’s like they’re trying for a reverse synergy. The NYT would take another big ding if Starbucks ever pulled its head out of its ass, which…
Here was the original from google cache… here is what happened when they remembered they’d co-branded their failing little homoerotic coffee shops with the dirty socialist pseudojournalist propaganda whores at the New York Times.
happyfeet (f62c43) — 10/26/2009 @ 7:18 pmI hate to threadjack, but, Patrick, please tell me Savage is exaggerating on what he said a bit ago about illegals getting a *pass* for their first traffic stop for no license, AND/or drunk driving. He said it was an SF policy, out of your jurisdiction, but, just hoping you can dispel it. Please.
sybilll (cedfbd) — 10/26/2009 @ 7:30 pmAs for my local paper (Memphis), I stopped taking it at least 3 years ago. It only glorifies the corruption that would make Kwame drool.
Hey! The New York Times’ crack reporting staff has discovered that conservatives aren’t happy with Scozzafava!
(Reported, of course, with the obligatory spin that conservatives are carpet-bagging so the NYT can get in some darts at the evil Palin and Armey.)
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 10/26/2009 @ 7:41 pmBradley, just finished reading this, and found these two quotes amusing,
It’s unclear whether the tactic will be effective. Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, said that “if someone else breaks a good story, and if — important if — our own reporting backs it up, we’ll run it. Even if it’s Fox.”
Los Angeles Times Editor Russ Stanton took a similar stance, saying, “We would follow any news story — after confirming the facts and figuring out a way to advance it — if we believed it was important to the readers of the Los Angeles Times, regardless of the organization or individual that broke it.”
Dana (e9ba20) — 10/26/2009 @ 8:02 pmI see my morning rag, well not actually my morning rag since I live in a suburb, the Dallas Morning News is down -22.16 percent. And I know that Belo and its spinoffs are hurting as well.
I also noticed one of its top reporters on Maddow the other night — Wayne Slater — to be exact, helping heap fun on the unwashed masses.
Looks like a winning business plan to me.
Ag80 (815bcd) — 10/26/2009 @ 8:21 pmI haven’t read the Arizona Republic since I left the Phoenix area after grad school in 2001, so I’ll have to take Gazzer’s word that they’ve become a left-wing bastion; I don’t remember it being particularly partisan myself, but times change. If that’s the case, they really screwed up–progressives always had the Phoenix New Times for the left-wing leaning news, and it’s not like the Republic could compete with that.
Another Chris (470967) — 10/26/2009 @ 8:22 pmI’m reading Michael Connelly’s The Scarecrow. It’s about a cop-beat reporter at the Los Angeles Times who gets his pink slip, but happens to catch a big story during his last two weeks on the job.
Here’s the reporter, thinking about another guy who got laid off and didn’t take it too well.
Each of his last days, people saw him in the office carrying a tennis ball. Bouncing it, tossing it, squeezing it. They didn’t realize that each day it was a different tennis ball. And each day he flushed a ball down the toilet in the men’s room. About a week after he was gone the pipes backed up with devastating consequences.
The SF Chronicle, taking a hit of (25.82%) may want to look into getting Rotorooter on some kind of retainer…just to be safe.
PC14 (82e46c) — 10/26/2009 @ 8:24 pmDana,
The condescension just reeks from those quotes. “Even if it’s Fox.” Can you imagine Keller saying that about a left-wing outfit, like MSNBC or Talking Points Memo, or Daily Kos?
Stanton’s quote is a gem of misdirection — “if we believed it was important to the readers of the Los Angeles Times translates to, “If we believe it won’t upset the Los Angeles Times template with annoying contrary facts”
Ag80,
The Wayne Slaters of the media world must be desperate to get their left-wing creds reinforced before they’re forced to give up the pretension of being journalists. Maybe they can get some of that stimulus money — since they’re flacking for Obama, they might as well get paid by their Messiah. John Guerra probably has his app in already.
I am sorry for the real journalists who are losing their jobs, but I’m thrilled that the poseurs will also go.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 10/26/2009 @ 8:47 pmWayne Slater linked Tea Party protesters with Holocaust deniers.
Lovely!
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 10/26/2009 @ 8:49 pmWayne Slater aspires to be MadCow’s little beeyotch.
JD (5b977c) — 10/26/2009 @ 8:55 pmWow, the Dog Trainer’s daily circulation is now under 660,000. According to this article from last year, it had a daily circulation of 1.1 million twenty years ago and peaked at 1.2 million sometime in the 1990s.
JVW (d1215a) — 10/26/2009 @ 10:27 pmI don’t think the LAT is sinking fast enough.
Kids, we have work to do!
Patricia (c95a48) — 10/26/2009 @ 10:48 pmRegarding Starbucks, I heard a couple years ago that they were none too US Military-friendly. While I don’t drink coffee, they have a non-coffee hot drink I love. I haven’t had it since I heard that. No money to Starbucks from my pocket.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 10/26/2009 @ 11:05 pmHitchcock – I think that charge about being un-freindly to the military was an urban legend. Not that if you asked an average college age wanna-be-hippie barrista their opinion it would likely be negative. As I recall Starbucks has donated a lot of coffee to the troops. (And from talking to some they really appreciate that.)
Have Blue (854a6e) — 10/26/2009 @ 11:18 pmJohn Hitchcock, here is Starbuck’s official statement on the rumors of their anti-military stance.
JVW (d1215a) — 10/26/2009 @ 11:24 pmThank you, Have Blue and JVW. I will again frequent Starbucks. And I will also write a brief article on my site, incorporating that link.
John Hitchcock (3fd153) — 10/26/2009 @ 11:38 pm[…] it seems I was in error. JVW of Patterico’s Pontifications fame provided an old link debunking that story. If I had taken the time to do any research myself, I […]
Starbucks Will Get My Money Again « Truth Before Dishonor (b093c9) — 10/26/2009 @ 11:49 pmI seem to remember that the association between Starbucks and the NYT started a few years ago with a crossword puzzle promotion. (Does this ring a bell, anyone?)
Seeing as Mr. Shortz’s puzzles are the only remaining redeemable part of the NYT, maybe they’re just hoping for another one.
Steve Levy (922f7f) — 10/27/2009 @ 12:01 amIt could also be that Starbucks is catering to what the customers want. While I am conservative in many respects I still go to Starbucks on occasion. I also recognize that a) Starbucks caters to a lot of the Prius-Global Warming crowd, and b) some folks still look upon the NYT as the newspaper of record.
In short, the NYT fits well within the Starbucks business model. It sells. They also usually have the local rag, and USA Toady as well.
the friendly grizzly (af1c45) — 10/27/2009 @ 1:50 amTwo items:
On 9-11, the nearest Starbucks to the WTC was SELLING water to the survivors passing by. HQ fired the manager’s ass. Couldn’t do better. Guy was probably afraid to make a command decision about bottled water and the lines were out. Moron.
WRT the papers: If we, for the sake of argument, stop talking about the bias, what else is there that would cause papers to lose circulation?
Richard Aubrey (994cce) — 10/27/2009 @ 4:48 amCan you get local news, high school sports, city hall news elsewhere? On the web? Is that stuff not interesting to the reader? Willing to give it up to get mostly national or regional news on the net?
E-bay and Craigs probably supercedes classifieds.
How much is the reader losing when dropping the nearest big-city, or medium-city daily and using the web?
Is the bias so obvious and so obnoxious to so many people that they’ll either lose certain items the web doesn’t do, or figure out a work around (gossip?)?
OTOH, it’s always the last ten percent of revenue/customers where you make your profit. The first ninety percent keep the doors open.
Wow! The Atlanta Journal-Constitution appears to have dropped right out of the top twenty-five. Have to see if that’s reported in today’s edition. (I kid.)
RNB (6a1e7d) — 10/27/2009 @ 5:58 amI seem to remember that the association between Starbucks and the NYT started a few years ago with a crossword puzzle promotion. (Does this ring a bell, anyone?)
Not sure, but they’ve been carrrying the NYT in their stores for many years at this point – I believe the relationship began with their selling the Sunday edition first, which was followed by the daily edition after that success was documented.
Dmac (5ddc52) — 10/27/2009 @ 7:36 amStarbucks in PA drove coffee and food out to rescuers in the field where the plane was downed on 9/11. The stores near me are always collecting for the troops. So, they are liberal but not crazy liberabl.
Why are we talking about Starbucks?
Patricia (c95a48) — 10/27/2009 @ 9:06 amThe thing that really strikes me is that the San Francisco Chronicle is down 25% in six months. It barely outsells the Trenton News-Ledger these days. And the Chron was the epitome of the Velvet Tomb newspaper, where you had a plush job in a charming city for life.
They must be terrified. There might not be a Chron by this time next year.
Charles Perry (bcf7a2) — 10/27/2009 @ 10:00 ama very tired voice called me tonight, with the message that the LA Times wanted to make me a special offer to subscribe……
me: “That sounds great…. how much a week are they offering to pay me to read their paper”?
her: (sounding even more depressed) “Have a good evening sir…click”
glug, glug, glug….. %-)
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 10/27/2009 @ 6:54 pm