Daily Herald growing; most newspapers shrinking fast

Despite a continued slide in the U.S. newspaper industry in general, the Daily Herald again showed modest gains in average paid circulation for the six-month period ending Sept. 30, a report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations shows.

The Daily Herald's average paid circulation increased to 148,055 on Sundays, 146,133 on weekdays and 140,510 on Saturdays, according to the audit bureau's FAS-FAX report of preliminary figures released Monday. Those figures represented increases of 0.1 percent in each category, according to the report. The totals were adjusted to account for a decision to eliminate bartered copies.

The increases contrasted to the general newspaper trend, which showed a 2.6 percent decline in circulation at major U.S. newspapers during the six months ending in September.

The Chicago Tribune numbers followed that trend, with declines of 2.9 percent to 559,404 on weekdays; 8.6 percent to 457,960 on Saturdays; and 2.1 percent to 917,868 on Sundays. The Chicago Sun-Times did not report circulation figures in line with a censure in 2004 for significantly overstating circulation.

Elsewhere around the country, there were some gains: USA Today, up 1 percent; the Los Angeles Times, up 0.5 percent; and the Philadelphia Inquirer, up 2.3 percent. But most newspapers still saw declines, among them: the New York Times, down 4.5 percent; the Wall Street Journal, down 1.5 percent; the New York Daily News and the New York Post, both down 1.7 percent.

If there was good news, it was the declines appeared to be somewhat more moderate than they have been in recent years.

The trends were similar in Chicago's suburbs, where virtually every newspaper except the Daily Herald and the Aurora Beacon News showed losses in circulation. The Aurora newspaper rode heavy discounting and an expanded and growing market into increases of 4.5 percent to 29,060 on Sundays, 7.5 percent to 27,563 on weekdays and 7.7 percent to 27,088 on Saturdays.

But circulation declines were the rule at the Crystal Lake Northwest Herald, Elgin Courier News, Kane County Chronicle, Naperville Sun and Waukegan News-Sun. Losses also were reported at the Joliet Herald-News, which had a marginal gain on Saturdays but lost on Sundays and weekdays. The figures:

• Northwest Herald, down 2.3 percent to 36,937 weekdays, 0.4 percent to 38,603 Saturdays and 0.9 percent to 39,781 Sundays.

• Elgin Courier News, down marginally to 12,636 weekdays, 1 percent to 12,221 Saturdays and 2.8 percent to 12,665 Sundays.

• Kane County Chronicle, down 0.4 percent to 12,299 Mondays through Saturdays and 0.1 percent to 12,012 Sundays.

• Naperville Sun, down 7.4 percent to 15,897 weekdays and 1.5 percent to 15,727 Sundays.

• Waukegan News-Sun, down 8.1 percent to 18,089 weekdays and 9.2 percent to 19,798 on weekends.

• Joliet Herald-News, down 0.3 percent to 40,992 weekdays, up marginally to 40,456 Saturdays, and down 1.4 percent to 43,989 Sundays.

The Daily Southtown, like the Sun-Times, did not report circulation figures because of a reporting scandal in 2004.

Suburban Chicago Newspapers, made up of the Sun-Times suburban operations in Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, Naperville and Waukegan, saw an overall decline of 0.9 percent to 115,177 on weekdays, an increase of 2.4 percent to 79,765 on Saturdays and a decline of 1.6 percent to 121,239 on Sundays.

More than 100 large newspapers also began releasing new sets of data that measure the size and reach of their online audiences. The Daily Herald was among them, reporting an average online viewership of 271,152 over a 30-day period, and an overall audience, when combined with print readership, of 900,663.