The Boston Globe today reports that Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show the Boston Herald’s weekday paid print circulation is down 12 percent over a year ago, to 132,551. The Sunday Herald is down 4.6 percent, to 91,040. Here is the Herald’s story.
About Media Nation
"Dan Kennedy ... exercises the blogger's imperative to bloviate beyond his expertise."
— Boston Globe, 11/30/08
Media Nation is published under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial- Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Some rights reserved. You must attribute this work to Media Nation (with link). For more information, please contact Dan Kennedy at da {dot} kennedy {at} neu {dot} edu.Winner of a 2011 CBS Boston "Most Valuable Blogger" Award.
At least the Herald’s story on its own circulation figures spelled the paper’s name correctly. In the obit for Alan Rich, a classical music critic who one worked in Boston, the print edition (page 29) spells the paper’s name as ‘Boston Hearld’.
The Herald has been following the Globe’s lead in boosting prices of the print edition, although not at the breakneck pace of the Globe. Just a few years ago you could get a long-term 7 day subscription for less than $2 a week. Now it is over $4, and the daily Herald at $1 is probably the most expensive tabloid in the US. So maybe they too are making money even as their circulation plunges.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Herald was close to 300K. Shouldn’t this quiet the commentators who claim newspaper’s woes are the fault of the “liberal press”?
@Laurence: Anyone who says newspaper circulation is declining because of liberal bias has been paying no attention. Newspaper-reading has held up very well when you add online readers.
Does the Herald still hand out copies for free around Boston during rush hour?
@Mike: Don’t know, but it shouldn’t matter — those are not supposed to be counted. Where gamesmanship does potentially come in is with discounted copies, which you are only supposed to count up to a certain point.
Shorter version of Herald story. “Herald finishes second! Globe next to last.”