Florida Newspaper Circulation Continues Decline

Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Florida Newspaper Circulation Continues Decline
By Kevin Bouffard THE LEDGER - LAKELAND

Newspapers across Florida and the nation can only hope the latest circulation figures mean its multi-year circulation slump is coming in for a soft landing. Newspaper circulation in Florida and nationwide has continued to decline, but at a slower rate than earlier, according to the most recent report released Monday from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a publishing industry group.

All but six of 29 daily Florida newspapers surveyed showed declines in average daily circulation, the report said.The Ledger's average weekday circulation for the six months ending March 31 declined 10.6 percent to 65,948 issues, down from 73,736 a year earlier. That was the fourth biggest circulation loss among the 29 newspapers.

The Ledger's average Sunday circulation fared better, but still fell 6.3 percent to 83,860, down from 89,487 for the same period ending March 31, 2007. That was the fifth biggest circulation loss among Florida newspapers.''Without question the environment for general interest massmedia products remains challenging,'' Jerome Ferson, publisher of The Ledger, said in an e-mail. ''

However noise exists in these recent numbers that reflect tactical changes in the way we are approaching the market."

Ferson said beyond The Ledger's paid circulation numbers, when taken together, the company's other products, such as The Reporter edition in Northeast Polk, Business Journal, Vision Latina, Polk Voice, News Chief, theledger.com and a suite of other digital products provide nearly total penetration of the Polk County audience.

The News Chief in Winter Haven had an unaudited circulation of 8,550 for the same period, estimated Publisher Nelson Kirkland, who had no comparable figure for a year ago.The News Chief, which The Ledger purchased in March, was not an Audit Bureau member but will join later this year, Kirkland said. It should appear in the October-March report next year.

But overall declines in the most recent six-month period were less than those in the previous Audit Bureau report from the six-month period ending Sept. 30.Florida's largest newspapers performed the best in the most recent circulation report.

The Orlando Sentinel showed a 0.3 percent gain to an average weekday circulation of 227,593 newspapers. The state's largest newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, had a circulation loss of just 2.1 percent to 316,007 newspapers while its crosstown rival, the Tampa Tribune, fell 2.8 percent to 220,522.

The Miami Herald had an 11.7 percent daily circulation decline to 240,223 editions as of March 31. Its Spanish-language edition, El Nuevo Herald, declined 1.3 percent to 79,963 daily.

Among other newspapers in The New York Times Regional Media Group, which owns The Ledger, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune had an average weekday circulation of 114,904 newspapers, down 2.9 percent from a year earlier;

the Ocala Star-Banner fell 12.1 percent to 45,424 daily newspapers; and the Gainesville Sun dropped to 44,658, down 13.3 percent.

Once again, Florida's fastest growing newspaper was the Daily Sun, which serves The Villages, a rapidly growing retirement community in Sumter County between Ocala and Leesburg. Its average daily circulation grew 7.5 percent to 35,808 issues.

The only other significant gain statewide was at the Citrus County Chronicle based in Crystal River, up 4.7 percent to 29,594 newspapers.Sunday circulation at Florida newspapers suffered less steep declines in general.

None suffered double-digit declines, although the Miami Herald came close - down 9.1 percent of 311,245 newspapers.

Only eight of 29 Florida's Sunday newspapers surveyed showed circulation drops of more than 5 percent.

Seven state newspapers showed circulation gains and another, the Bradenton Herald, remained flat at 54,210 issues.Among the gainers were the St. Petersburg Times, up 0.4 percent to 432,779 Sunday editions; the Daily Sun up 7.6 percent to 36,610; and the St. Augustine Record at 19,581 papers, up 3.5 percent.Florida Today in Melbourne had average Sunday circulation of 93,604, while the Pensacola News Journal sold 68,962 Sunday papers, both down 7 percent.

Outside Florida, circulation fell at most leading U.S. newspapers except for the two largest national dailies, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, which saw gains of less than 1 percent.USA Today remained the largest U.S. newspaper with an average daily circulation of nearly 2.3 million, up 0.3 percent, and The Wall Street Journal rose 0.4 percent to almost 2.1 million. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought the Journal's parent company Dow Jones & Co. last December.The New York Times remained the third largest national newspaper, but its circulation fell 3.9 percent to almost 1.1 million weekday copies for the six months to March 31.

[ Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-802-7591. ]

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Central Florida Retirement Real Estate: http://mysuncountry.com/realestate

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jimmy_Sturo

MySunCountry Places to Go and Things to Do

Professional Software Partners, Inc. of Ocala, Florida. recently announced MySunCountry.com, a web-site designed by and for the Central Florida Retirement Community. The purpose of the web site is to provide content and links to information of interest to area seniors , retirees and those interested in retiring in Central Florida. Some of the many Places to Go and Things to Do on MySunCountry are:

• View area retirement communities – news & events


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• Get gardening tips for your area


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• Tickle your ‘funny bone’ with today’s jokes and comics


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• Create your Family Tree, Family or Club Web Site easily and economically


• Improve and extend your life with Health Tips


• Ask the Expert your Medical Questions


• Adopt a Pet, Ask a Vet, or Share your favorite Pet Pictures in the MySunCountry Pets Corner


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• Monitor your investments with easy to use online tools


• Access up to the minute local and national weather and 10-day forecasts


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• See the latest winning Florida Lottery numbers


• Start your day with inspiring ‘Thoughts for the Day’


• Quickly and easily locate phone numbers, businesses and people with the best online directories


• Check out local businesses with the Better Business Bureau


• Rate and review your favorite restaurants, movies, web sites and more


• Voice your thoughts by email directly to the President, Congressman, Senator, or local county commissioners

MySunCountry.com offers free membership which entitles Members to access special offers and customization features. MySunCountry is currently running a "Register to Win" contest in which members can enter a drawing for one of 5 new Notebook Computers by joining , updated their interest profile or recommending to friends that they become members. You can view the web site at http://www.mysunsuncountry.com/ or see contest information at www.MySunCountry.com/register.

Professional Software Partners Announces MySunCountry.com

On February 2, 2008 Professional Software Partners, Inc. of Ocala, Florida officially announced the release of MySunCountry.com, a web site designed by and for Central Florida Retirees to enhance their daily retirement lifestyle. The purpose of the web site is to provide content and links to information of interest to area seniors, retirees and those interested in retiring in Central Florida.

The Internet is playing an ever increasing role in every day life. It is becoming the information source of choice for most people and organizations. Seniors and Retirees are an important and growing Internet user group. Today in Central Florida over 70% of seniors use the Internet on a daily basis. This web site serves as a convenient portal from which users can easily navigate to specific content of interest contained on the website or on other linked sites hosting the content.

For those interested in retiring to Central Florida, MySunCountry.com will feature information about the area, local retirement communities, local realtors and builders specializing in homes well suited to Central Florida Retirement.The web site provides information helpful to area retirees such as medical, dental, and emergency services, sales, savings coupons, best local gas prices and links to other on-line shopping bargains and prescription drug savings. Users can also become members of the MySunCountry.com Community and gain the additional benefits of web site customization to their location, interests and preferences, and receive early notification of special savingsoffers to members, announcements, and events by email, and can join on-line forums in their areas of interest. MySunCountry.com special interest pages are devoted to local clubs and organizations, automobiles, fashion after fifty, on-line fun and games, hobbies, arts and crafts, home and garden, health and wellness, travel and recreation.

Helpful on-line tools are included for searching the Internet i.e.; finding local businesses, accessing the local Better Business Bureau, phone number/address look-up, people finder, maps and driving directions etc.Users may voice their thoughts and opinions about improving the web site, and directly to their local or national elected officials by emailing them directly from the web site. Veterans will find MySunCountry.com Veteran’s pages of particular interest. This section features local veteran’s stories, veteran’s tributes, local veteran’s events, and links to veteran’s organizations and information on-line. Users are provided access to on-line local, national and worldwide news including the ability to easily bring up the on-line version of local newspapers and/or local newspapers in their `old' hometown.

Through affiliations with The Generations Network, Yahoo.com and USA4Sale networks (i.e.; Ocala4Sale.Com) users can easily and economically create their own family, club or organization websites and are provided access to placing free on-line classified ads. MySunCountry.com plans to assemble panels of local experts in the areas of Real Estate, Medical, Legal, Financial and Computer fields. These experts will write featured articles on subjects of interest to local retirees.Professional Software Partners plans to initially empathize the Ocala, Marion County Florida area and then expand to other Central Florida counties. The web site will be aggressively promoted by direct mail, local publications read by retirees, local high traffic web sites and to major web search engines on the Internet.

For more information contact :
Jon Romnes, PublisherMySunCountry.com
352-291-0024
email: JonR@MySunCountry.com
web site: http://www.mysuncountry.com/