Detroit newspapers lose less circulation than other big dailies

Nathan Hurst / The Detroit News

Circulation declines at The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press were smaller than for most other big city dailies, according to figures released Monday.

The News' decline was 5.9 percent from April 1 to Sept. 30, compared with the same period a year earlier; the Free Press' decline was 9.6 percent. The decreases brought weekday average circulation at the News to 167,849 and to 269,729 at the Free Press.

The results in Detroit were better than the average 12.9 percent decline among the nation's 50 largest papers. The San Francisco Chronicle lost more than a quarter of daily sales and the Dallas Morning News lost 22.2 percent.

The New York Times lost 72,815 daily readers, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, taking the paper's circulation below1 million for the first time in decades.

The steeper losses at other newspapers boosted the Detroit publications' rankings among the largest in the country. The News pulled ahead from 50th place to 46th; the Free Press jumped from 20th to 17th.

"We radically changed our delivery model and throughout the industry we have seen greater losses," Janet Hasson, senior vice president of audience development for the Detroit Media Partnership, said in a statement.

The partnership handles business, advertising and circulation functions for The News and Free Press. In March, the partnership radically changed the business model for the papers, cutting home delivery to Thursday, Friday and Sunday and offering store and vending box sales other days. A daily e-edition is available online, allowing readers to view a digital version of the papers exactly as they appear in print.

The Oakland Press of Pontiac saw a 7.3 percent gain; the Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens gained 4.9 percent.