The average paid circulation for U.S. newspapers continued its steady decline, according to statistics released in April by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (see For the Record, page 26).

ABC’s Fas-Fax, covering the six-month period ended March 31, found circ falling by more than 3 percent daily and 4 percent Sunday, Reuters said.

There were some bright spots, albeit minor. Both USA Today and the Wall Street Journal’s circ grew, by 0.27 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, to 2.28 million and just over 2 million, ABC said.

But the nation’s other top papers all reported declines, with The New York Times losing almost 4 percent of its daily readers, to 1,077,256, and the Los Angeles Times dropping 5 percent, to 773,884.

The (New York) Daily News’ circ fell 2.1 percent, to 703,137. Its archrival New York Post lost 3.1 percent of its readers, falling to 702,488.

 

The biggest loser was The Dallas Morning News, which shed more than 10 percent of its circ, to 368,313.

Meantime, the second installment of Audience Fax, also released in April, had equally sobering news. The joint initiative from ABC, Scarborough Research and the Newspaper Association of America, wasn’t accompanied by as much fanfare as its initial release last November.

The report indicated that the combined print and online reach of some newspapers has leveled off and that in some cases, penetration has declined.

The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, for example, the newspaper that boasted the highest penetration within its DMA, registered an 80.5 percent reach, according to today’s Audience Fax, down from the 83 percent penetration it notched last November.