Local trend is contrary to national headlines

**Newspapers across the Palouse appear to be weathering the economic storm better than national and metropolitan newspapers.**



“If you look at the numbers of readers we’re reaching now, [and] if you add in the paid online readership and the online readership that we have, we’re reaching more people than ever in our 97-year history,” said Nathan Alford, publisher of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and the Lewiston Tribune. “We’re not hanging our heads.”

According to the Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation filed by TCP Holdings, owner of the Daily News and Tribune, on average, both newspapers have seen about a 3 percent decrease in total distribution.

Circulation rates have decreased less than 3 percent for The Eagle & Boomerang, based in Moscow, according to office manager and reporter Suesanne Smith.

“[Circulation] hasn’t dropped like everywhere else has,” Smith said. “There are a lot of places that are really losing [subscriptions] but weekly and locals aren’t losing the same.”

And so it seems that newspapers across the Palouse are weathering the economic storm better than national metro newspapers.

“I think that what happens is the people who watch the industry and the news headlines … translate those national headlines with a big, broad brush and assume that that same economic scenario is what’s affecting community market newspapers,” Alford said. “In reality, of the 1,400 newspapers in the country, only 180 to 200 of those are metro newspapers … and the rest are community market newspapers much like ourselves.”

In “U.S. Newspaper Circulation Falls 10%,” published Oct. 27, 2009 in The New York Times, author Richard Perez-Pena wrote, “In the six months ended Sept. 30, sales fell by 10.6 percent on weekdays and 7.5 percent on Sundays, from the period a year earlier, for several hundred papers reporting to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.”

Perez-Pena went on to detail some individual circulation rates nationwide: The Los Angeles Times dropped 11 percent in weekday sales, the USA Today had a 17 percent decrease and the The New York Post fell 19 percent.

According to Perez-Pena, this drop caused USA Today to slip from the “top spot in weekday circulation for the first time since the 1990s,” and The Wall Street Journal, whose circulation rose 0.6 percent, took over the leading position.

Though local newspapers aren’t experiencing double-digit decreases like several large newspapers nationwide, one area of concern among local newspapers is advertising.

“We have seen some loses [in advertising revenue] but they have been made up by other gains,” said Gordon Forgey, publisher of the Whitman County Gazette. “With some very successful special sections, it’s above what it has been in previous years.”

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News and the Lewiston Tribune have a slightly different story.

“Advertising revenue has been down much more than circulation,” said Michael McBride, circulation director for TCP Holdings. “Advertising is down probably 20 percent and that’s where the majority of the money’s at. Classified advertising is way down and that’s where they’re seeing the biggest hit.”

In addition to advertising adaptations, the administration is looking to make even more changes to stay on top of the changing economic climate.

TCP Holdings has invested in a new printing press, has taken on delivery for the Spokesman Review and combined their circulation departments when the Daily News switched to an A.M. delivery cycle.

The new press provided more vibrant, consistent color, and is more economically and environmentally effective because it uses less power, ink and paper. Alford is confident that the new press will be a key player in pulling the newspapers out of the economic downturn.

“I think we’ve made smart decisions for a community newspaper, which is really owned by its readers,” Alford said. “We’ve made very minimal cuts in full-time staff.”

Contacts:

Nathan Alford
208-848-2220

Michael McBride
208-848-2220

Gordon Forgey
509-397-4333

Suesanne Smith
208-882-0666