News. Technology. Ramblings.

USA Today founder Al Neurharth offered a defense of newspapers in the Friday edition of the paper. He tells us the print industry has a “bright future”. Neurharth bases this on a few circulation figures. What he fails to mention is that these are the exceptions that prove the rule. Neurharth gives circulation numbers for USA Today and the Wall Street Journal - but he doesn’t tell you how small those increases are from six months ago. The USA Today was up a whopping .27% while the Wall Street Journal is up a even bigger .3%. Overwhelming isn’t it? The mark of success has become, “See, we didn’t lose more than we lost!”

Neuharth fails to mention how things look for other newspapers. Here’s how much these major papers were DOWN from just SIX MONTHS ago.

• The Miami Herald -11% (-9% on Sunday)
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution -8.5%
• The Boston Globe -8.3%
• The Los Angeles Times -5.1%
• The San Francisco Chronicle -4.2%
• The New York Times -3.8% (-9.2% on Sunday)
• The Washington Post -3.5%
• The New York Post -3% daily ( -8% on Sundays)

And this is supposed to be good news for print? Neuharth actually brags about increases as little as 1.21% for some mid-sized papers. Instead of honestly addressing the problems facing the industry, he has responded by saying, “What problems?”

Is it any wonder newspapers are in survival mode with this kind of leadership?