Monday, October 27, 2008

Oregonian Subscription Loss--Steepest Plunge in 3 Years

According to Editor & Publisher the Oregonian lost more than 21,000 daily subscribers in the last 6 months. This is the steepest plunge in 3 years.

From March 2005 to March 2008 total subscription decline was 33,307. From April to September 2008 the Oregonian lost an additional 21,078 subscribers–a 6.9% drop in total subscriptions in only 6 months. In terms of the previous 3 year loss, the current 6 month loss adds a whopping 60% (21,078 compared to 33,307).

Oregonian woes were shared by other high profile newspapers. The New York Times, whose weakened financial condition has caused a drop in credit rating to junk status, lost 76,591 subscriptions in the last 6 months–a 7% decline.

Among the top 25 newspapers only USA Today and The Wall Street Journal showed slight 1 year increases.

In view of the rampant partisanship of the press, it’s no wonder that subscriptions continue to decline. The Pew Research Center found that an astounding 70% of Americans say the press wants Sen. Obama to win the election. Why pay for slanted news? And for the 45% of Americans who favor John McCain, why pay to be insulted?

Newspaper – total subscriptions – increase/decline from 1 year ago
USA Today -- 2,293,310 -- 0.01%
The Wall Street Journal -- 2,011,999 -- 0.01%
New York Times -- 1,000,665 -- (-3.58%)
Los Angeles Times -- 739,147 -- (-5.20%)
Daily News, New York -- 632,595 -- (-7.16%)

New York Post -- 625,421 -- (-6.25%)
The Washington Post -- 622,714 -- (-1.94%)
Chicago Tribune -- 516,032 -- (-7.75%)
Houston Chronicle -- 448,271 -- (-11.66%)
Newsday -- 377,517 -- (-2.58%)

The Arizona Republic -- 361,333 -- (-5.51%)
San Francisco Chronicle -- 339,430 -- (-7.07%)
The Dallas Morning News -- 338,933 -- (-9.28%)
Boston Globe -- 323,983 -- (-10.18%)
Star Tribune, Minneapolis -- 322,360 -- (-4.26%)

Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J. -- 316,280 -- (-10.40%)
Chicago Sun-Times -- 313,176 -- (-3.94%)
Plain Dealer, Cleveland -- 305,529 -- (-8.58%)
The Philadelphia Inquirer -- 300,674 -- (-11.06%)
Detroit Free Press -- 298,243 -- (-6.84%)

The Oregonian -- 283,321 -- (-8.45%)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- 274,999 -- (-13.62%)
San Diego Union-Tribune -- 269,819 -- (-3.00%)
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times -- 268,935 -- (-6.88%)
The Sacramento Bee -- 253,249 -- (-4.22%)

Hat Tip: Drudge Report

2 comments:

OregonGuy said...

The Oregonian's editorial policy costing the paper subscribers:

It's not a bug, it's a feature.
.

T. D. said...

Yes, the editorial policy that slants their news stories as well as the AP, New York Times, McClatchy partisan news pieces make it clear that their reporting is not believable and needs to be supplemented by other sources. Why pay for a service that is flawed and not complete?

Thanks for your comment, OregonGuy!