Newspapers Decline Again

At what point do they actually go under? Because we've been seeing these declines for a few years now:

• Circulation continues to drop at U.S. newspapers. Figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show average weekday circulation fell 8.7 percent in the six months that ended March 31, compared with the same period a year earlier, while Sunday circulation fell 6.5 percent.

  The Chicago Sun-Times' Monday through Friday circulation over the period was 268,803, a decline of 13.9 percent from a year ago -- in line with company expectations after a significant price increase. The Sun-Times raised its newsstand price to 75 cents from 50 cents on March 30, 2009, affecting single-copy sales. However, home delivery increased 4.5 percent. The newspaper's Sunday circulation was 247,416, down 2.7 percent.

  Other papers also showed large weekday losses, with the San Diego Union-Tribune falling 22.7 percent, the Washington Post declining 13.1 percent, and USA Today losing 13.6 percent. The Chicago Tribune was down 9.8 percent to 452,145 weekdays and down 7.5 percent to 858,256 Sundays. The Wall Street Journal was the only one of the top 25 papers to gain in circulation -- 0.5 percent.

We've been waiting for the Tribune/Times merger announcement any decade now. There's a bunch of "reporters" we'd like to see collecting unemployment.