New circulation numbers show positives, negatives

Editor & Publisher's Fitz and Jen blog is reporting some new circulation numbers for U.S. newspapers. They show a lot of declines, but also some surprising gains in online readership.
According to the blog, a report released Monday by Deutsche Bank analyst David T. Clark shows that The Washington Post Co. and Lee Enterprises fared the best overall, but neither managed to post gains.
Their daily circulation fell 1.9 percent and 3.7 percent respectively in the six months ending in September.
Some more bad news:

Clark points out that the rate of circ decline is picking up. "We're still uncertain how much of the decline is due to reductions in outlying, third party, and unprofitable circulation but it is increasingly clear that the circulation trend is accelerating structural decline. Our best guess is that the secular rate of decline is between 3.0% and 3.5%."

However, many papers experienced strong growth in the readership of their websites.
The San Francisco Chronicler, the Rockford (Ill.) Register-Star, and the Macon (Ga.) Telegraph each saw gains of more than 23 percent.

For the rest of the list, as well as the article, click here.