Investors Bet on Small-Market Papers

While big newspapers across the country fight for survival, the slice of the industry that serves small markets is drawing new investment from industry veterans.

Longtime newspaper executive Michael Schroeder (right) in January bought two Connecticut dailies on the verge of closure. Pennsylvania publisher Richard Connor says he is close to acquiring a group of Maine papers, including the state's largest daily.

Last month, according to a person familiar with the matter, Tennessee Valley Printing Co., a family-owned publisher of smaller papers, agreed to buy a paper in Florence, Ala., for about $12 million, taking it off the hands of New York Times Co., which needs to raise cash.

The buyers' confidence reflects the divide between big-city papers and their relatively healthier brethren in smaller cities and towns. Advertising revenue fell just 3.6% last year for dailies with circulations under 100,000, compared to a nearly 17% decline for the industry overall, according to trade groups. [Click for MORE]

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Inauguration Gives Newspapers Another Boost

Barack Obama's inauguration as president gave struggling newspapers another sales boost Wednesday as readers temporarily looked beyond the Internet and snatched up multiple printed copies as keepsakes.

At News World in downtown Washington, Moira Tsanga indiscriminately grabbed copies of any newspaper that had Obama splashed across the front page.

"I'm getting some for my mother in Zimbabwe," said Tsanga, who is from the southern African country but now lives in Virginia.

Rhonda Hazelock also stopped by seeking to commemorate Tuesday's historic event — just as she had the morning after Obama was elected. She had her hands full as she clutched nine newspapers, including The Washington Post and The Washington Times.

"I have almost all of them," Hazelock said. She planned to give some of the papers to her boss and frame the rest or use them for a scrapbook.

The Obama-driven demand won't lift a newspaper industry besieged by falling advertising revenue, but the one-time sales boost could help avert a layoff or two down the road, while serving as a reminder that even the Internet can't replace the value of printed newspapers in marking history. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

HISTORY

Newspapers Cash in on Obama Inauguration Demand

Newspapers that scrambled to print extra issues after Barack Obama’s election are ramping up presses to ensure they don’t miss out on an inauguration day windfall.

For Obama’s swearing-in as U.S. president on Jan. 20, publishers of the New York Times, Washington Post and newspapers across the country are planning to sell millions of extra copies, special editions, books and other memorabilia. That’s after Nov. 5 newspapers attracted bids of almost $100 apiece on EBay. [Click for MORE]

> Obama Honors MLK Jr. Day Before Taking Presidency

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Newspaper-Circulation Drop Sharpens

Most of the nation's biggest newspapers saw circulation tumble at an increased rate, a sign that the migration of readers online may be picking up speed.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations reported Monday that average weekday circulation at 534 daily newspapers fell 3.6% for the six months ended March 31, compared with the year-earlier period. The rate of decline is accelerating: ABC had reported an average weekday circulation drop of 2.1% in the year-earlier period and 2.6% in the six months to November.

Sunday circulation fell even more, losing 4.6% on average.

Newspaper circulation has been falling for more than 20 years amid increasing competition for advertising dollars and readers' attention. The latest results were grim but unsurprising, said John Morton, an independent newspaper analyst. "Big-city papers are suffering right now, and this is just reflective of that."

FALLING CIRCULATION

Average paid weekday circulation of the 20 largest U.S. newspapers for the six-month period ending in March. The percentage changes are from the comparable year-ago period.

1. USA Today, 2,284,219, up 0.3%

2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,069,463, up 0.4%

3. The New York Times, 1,077,256, down 3.9%

4. Los Angeles Times, 773,884, down 5.1%

5. New York Daily News, 703,137, down 2.1%

6. New York Post, 702,488, down 3.1%

7. The Washington Post, 673,180, down 3.6%

8. Chicago Tribune, 541,663, down 4.4%

9. Houston Chronicle, 494,131, down 1.8%

10. The Arizona Republic, 413,332, down 4.7%

11. Newsday, Long Island, 379,613, down 4.7%

12. San Francisco Chronicle, 370,345, down 4.2%

13. Dallas Morning News, 368,313, down 10.6%

14. The Boston Globe, 350,605, down 8.3%

15. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 345,130, down 7.4%

16. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 334,150, down 5.1%

17. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, 330,280, down 4.2%

18. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 326,907, down 8.5%

19. Star Tribune of Minneapolis, 321,984, down 6.7%

20. St. Petersburg Times, Florida, 316,007, down 2.1%

Source: Associated Press

Newspaper publishers have also seen worsening drop-offs in print-ad revenue over the past few months, at least partly because of the economic slowdown.

Nearly all of the 10 biggest newspapers in the U.S. posted circulation declines. Circulation at the Los Angeles Times -- which has struggled with turnover among its newsroom management as real-estate magnate Sam Zell took effective control of its parent, Tribune Co., in December -- fell 5.1% to 773,884. The New York Times' average weekday circulation fell 3.9% to 1.08 million. It saw an even steeper drop in Sunday circulation, which was down 9.3% to 1.48 million.

"This was a decline that we planned and budgeted for," said New York Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty. The company has eliminated "bonus days," in which the Sunday paper was delivered to weekday subscribers, and has cut back on discounted and advertiser-paid distribution as it attempts to grow more-profitable circulation, she said. In that shift, she added, "We do expect to see some copy decline."

A Los Angeles Times spokeswoman said it too has cut bonus-day issues, which lowered circulation. She also noted a price increase for home-delivery subscribers and competing pressure from other media outlets.

Of the top 10, only two newspapers saw circulation growth. Gannett Co.'s USA Today, the largest paper in the U.S., posted a 0.3% increase in weekday circulation to 2.28 million. At The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by News Corp., the number of subscribers inched up 0.4% to 2.07 million, a figure that includes print subscriptions as well as about 352,000 online-only ones that qualify under the Audit Bureau's rules. The year-earlier figure included 340,618 online-only subscriptions. Other papers also offer electronic editions that qualify as part of their circulation, but the Journal has a far larger number of such subscriptions. [Click for MORE]

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