The long goodbye of Florida’s newspapers – read all about it

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

The long goodbye of Florida’s newspapers is accelerating and the once unthinkable vanishing point for the printed edition one of America’s best-known papers – The Miami Herald – appears near.

Autumn is the time of year when newspapers typically file with the U.S. Postal Service their annual Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation. In September, the once-mighty Herald’s statement disclosed that as of Aug. 18 its total paid circulation had dropped to a shocking 12,623 – a 76.25 percent plunge since 2018 when circulation was 53,141.

More precisely, that’s the average number of copies sold during the preceding 12 months at what the Herald reported was an annual subscription price of $1,819.48. You do the math on that loss.

The print edition’s declining fortunes are best seen through two examples. In 1998, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported the Miami Herald’s average circulation was 440,225. By 2015, circulation had fallen to 88,001; in 2016 to 76,325; by 2018 to 53,141 – a decline of 33.57 percent over those four years, according to the paper’s certified statements of ownership.

The Herald, owned by the California-based McClatchy Company which is in turn owned by  the New Jersey-based hedge fund Chatham Asset Management LLC, has not been an everyday daily newspaper since March 2020 when it stopped printing its Saturday edition. Here’s what they told readers when that move was announced:

“This doesn’t mean we are abandoning print. We are expanding our Friday and Sunday print editions, so subscribers will continue to get all their favorite Saturday features, including comics and puzzles…But this is a pivotal time for the local news industry and we have to align with our readers’ habits. We’re moving more of our resources into the digital side of our business because that is where we are growing — and impressively. The Miami Herald has the largest digital audience of any Florida newspaper, thanks to our loyal readers.”

Whether that last sentence remains true can’t be determined. Some papers, including the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel and Tampa Bay Times, don’t disclose their digital numbers. And the Herald’s paid digital circulation, which grew impressively between 2018 and 2022, took a sharp turn south last year – falling 30 percent from 44,011 subscriptions to 30,840, according to its Postal Service filings.

DECLINING CIRCULATION, RISING COSTS

What’s happening at the Herald isn’t unique. New Jersey has been hit particularly hard. On Oct. 30, the state’s largest paper, the venerable Newark Star Ledger, announced it would cease publishing a print newspaper in February 2025. Why? Declining circulation and rising costs.

Likewise the Star Ledger said it will shut down its suburban printing plant. The plant’s demise will have a ripple effect, leading to the death of its sister publication, the 157-year-old Jersey Journal, based in Jersey City in Hudson County. Three other newspapers now produced there – The Times of Trenton, The Hunterdon County Democrat, and the South Jersey Times will end their print editions and become online only.

The Newark Star Ledger and the other three papers are owned by subsidiaries of Advance Publications, which is owned by the Newhouse family of media barons.

With the near-collapse of the Miami Herald’s print edition, Miami Today, a respected source of local business and government news and information for 42 years, is having a moment. The weekly paper’s editor, publisher and founder Michael Lewis now boasts that “Miami Today in print is the largest circulated mainstream publication in Miami-Dade County.”

That’s true, but with a significant caveat. Lewis’s assertion includes both paid and “nonrequested,” or giveaways. Miami Today’s paid weekly copies in 2024 were just 7,491. There were more than 6,800 giveaways. Further, Miami Today reported having zero paid electronic copies in its Statement of Ownership published Oct. 3.

Harry Broertjes is a retired, veteran Miami Herald editor who follows the paper’s circulation fortunes. He recently pulled together the number for all 30 McClatchy papers across the country.

“Only six of them have print circulations of more than 10,000, and none over 20,000. The Herald ranks fourth among them,” he said. “However, the Herald’s electronic paid circulation is the highest of all the McClatchy papers. The sum total of all McClatchy papers’ [print] circulation is 165,097. At one point the Herald’s Broward-only circulation approached that.”

OTHER FLORIDA NEWSPAPERS

Here’s what’s happening at other Florida newspapers. In Broward, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s statement of ownership published on Sept. 8 disclosed its “requested,” or paid, average circulation in the preceding year was 20,073, with another 1,256 freebies. Paid digital copies were not disclosed. The daily Sun-Sentinel is owned by Tribune Media, which in turn is owned by the New York City-based hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which operates its various media holdings through Digital First Media.

The daily Orlando Sentinel, a Tribune Media sister paper of the Sun-Sentinel, said in its statement of ownership that its average print circulation in 2024 was 20,387. No numbers for digital subscriptions were made public.

Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher and owner of USA Today, operates 19 Florida newspapers, including the Palm Beach Post and the much smaller Palm Beach Daily News, also known as the “Shiny Sheet.” Asked to provide copies of each paper’s statement of ownership, the company’s corporate communications department said, “We do not disclose circulation data at the market level.”

The Palm Beach Post, however, was more cooperative, providing its statement of ownership published in early October. It says the Post’s average paid print circulation was 17,400 in 2024. Paid electronic copies were just 4,867. In 2018, the Post reported its paid electronic copies were more than 15,000.

The independent Tampa Bay Times, which in 2018 was Florida’s largest daily newspaper with a reported print circulation of nearly 294,000 and digital subscriptions of just under 4,000, declined to provide its current circulation numbers. Persistent industry rumors are that the Times has more recently suffered a significant collapse in its print circulation.

Florida Bulldog obtained 2024 statements of ownership published by five additional Gannett papers:

• Naples Daily News. Print, paid copies: 12,954. Digital, paid copies: 1,769.
• The News-Press. Fort Myers, daily. Print paid copies: 9,850. Digital paid copies: 1,238.
• Florida Today. Melbourne, Daily except Saturdays and major holidays. Print paid copies: 8,479. Digital paid copies: 2,202.
• Tallahassee Democrat. Daily except Saturdays and major holidays. Print paid copies, 5,599. Digital paid copies: 1,935.
• Pensacola News Journal. Daily except Saturdays and major holidays. Print paid copies: 4,928. Digital paid copies: 1,198.

WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND THE NATION

Much of what follows is for true newspaper junkies. Here are the circulation numbers as reported on 2024 statements of ownership published variously in August, September and October by a scattering of major newspapers across the country.

In the South, the migration toward digital has been more successful than in most of Florida. The daily Atlanta Journal-Constitution, owned by Cox Enterprises, disclosed total paid print circulation of 31,063 and paid electronic copies were 57,341. The daily Richmond Times-Dispatch, owned by Lee Enterprises, reported its paid print circulation was 22,907 and digital was 24,405.

The daily Boston Globe, published by former Miami Marlins owner and current Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, disclosed its total paid circulation was 57,450 in 2024. Paid electronic copies totaled 341,685.

Gannett papers in the Midwest are lagging, according to their statements of ownership. The daily Detroit Free Press reported total paid newspaper circulation of 26,201 and paid electronic copies as 4,175. The daily Indianapolis Star’s total paid print distribution was 24,053, with digital at 3,889. The Cincinnati Enquirer, daily except Saturday and major holidays, declared its paid print was 18,908, with 5,310 digital copies. The Des Moines Register, daily except Saturdays, Sundays and major holidays, was at 17,988 paid print and 6,256 paid digital.

The daily Chicago Tribune, a Tribune Media property, said its total paid print distribution was 73,317 and that its paid electronic copies were 148,771.

The daily and locally owned Minnesota Star Tribune did not disclose its paid electronic sales. But its paid daily circulation Monday through Saturday was 77,712 and on Sunday, 139,232.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch, a Lee Enterprises property, was one of the only newspapers we found whose reported paid digital circulation exceeded its paid print circulation. Print: 31,329 copies. Digital: 52,887.

Finally, Hawaii’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Like the Miami Herald it publishes daily except Saturday. But the print numbers it reports in its statement of ownership are much healthier. Paid print circulation was 59,512, with another 6,016 paid electronic copies being sold.

Why are Florida’s newspapers, most noticeably the Miami Herald, doing so much worse than papers elsewhere? Can anything be done?