Based on government reports, Florida for-profit newspapers endured serious circulation erosion in 2017. And these declines appear to be continuing in 2018.
Daily newspapers use independent carriers to deliver most of their papers. But newspapers that also use the Post Office to deliver copies must file PS Form 3526 to remain eligible for cheaper periodical mailing permits. Editors or publishers who furnish false or misleading information, or omit requested information, can face criminal sanctions, including fines and imprisonment, and/or civil penalties.
The Florida Bulldog – a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization -used the Freedom of Information Act to request the forms filed by 20 of the largest Florida newspapers since 2015. It took the Postal Service a year and two FOIA requests to supply the reports.
The Florida Bulldog reported that seven daily papers suffered three-year declines of 27 percent or more, including: the Bradenton Herald, El Nuevo Herald, Florida Times-Union, Ocala Star Banner, Orlando Sentinel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune. In 2018, double-digit drops continued at Bradenton, El Nuevo and Orlando. Circulation numbers for 2018 were not available for the Times-Union, Star Banner or the Herald-Tribune.
Here locally, the Tallahassee Democrat reported a 16.5% decline in circulation from 26,075 in 2015 to 21,782 in 2017. In addition, the Tallahassee Democrat reported a 13.6% decline from 2017 to 2018, with a circulation of 18,825.
Looking at newspapers with circulation numbers comparable to Gannett owned Tallahassee Democrat, only the the Gainesville Sun saw a increase (4.78%) in circulation between 2015 to 2017.
Florida For-Profit Newspapers Report Double-Digit Circulation Declines added by Steve Stewart on
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PS Form 3526 for the Gainesville Sun was published in their October 5, 2020 issue. In the form,
they claim their daily print run in 10,000 with only 8,656 paid print subscribers. That’s a pretty steep drop.
The Bradenton Herald is the sister paper of the Miami Herald which means we are force fed the MH’s TDS Trump hating editorials. Those idiots can’t seem to realize that Bradenton, unlike Miami, is a Republican stronghold so naturally they are not delivering anything closely resembling a conservative viewpoint resulting in their #1 spot in hemorrhaging readership. I feel sorry for the editor here. What a dichotomy, stick to your owner’s liberal viewpoint and go out of business or offer a different product and flourish while others perish.
I wouldn’t read TD if it was delivered to my doorstep for free. It is excellent for lining trashcans though.
I hope they win.
And get the paper + building as part of the restitution, kinda like what happened in the Gawker lawsuit.
I am pretty sure that the 5 people on Rocky Hanna’s “hit list” will sue Mr. Hanna and the Tallahassee Democrat in a class action suit for the biased reporting on the notebook that Rocky authored , Rocky admitted he wrote the intentional misleading summaries in each section and the TDO failed to report the truth that Hanna had to be sued for child support, settling the matter through school board email on school board time! They never fact checked anything that Rocky said before, during and after the campaign. Through biased reporting reporters within the Tallahassee Democrat facilitated Rocky Hanna to win the election and non renew the employees on his “hit list”.
Their advertisers should demand a refund.
All 3 of them.
Fortunately for the Democrap, you need at least 4 for a class-action lawsuit, so they can’t be sued.
Looks like the Sarasota paper, led by former Democrap pub “Pontius Pilat” Pat, lost almost as many subscribers as our local rag still has, lol. Must be getting close to the time he’ll wash his hands and move up the GutHouse chain.