Today’s release of the ABC circulation figures for the region’s local newspapers will provide little (print) comfort for the big news organisations. Only one, the Lancashire Telegraph, managed to post a positive result and even that was a modest 1.6 per cent increase.
The figure published for the first half of this year also show what’s been described as a ‘startling commission’ for the UK’s biggest newspaper group – Trinity Mirror – no year on year analysis.
The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade has attempted to calculate the declines for those papers, which includes the Manchester Evening News and the Newcastle Journal, but it’s something of an apples and pear comparison given the changed format for reporting by TM.
He said: “I agree that this exercise is anything but perfect, but the change of mind over auditing should not be allowed to conceal the reality of decline.”
The stark picture is detailed in the table below.
| Title | Total | Yr on yr |
| Hartlepool Mail | 7,435 | -15.7 |
| Teesside – Evening Gazette | 26,845 | |
| Barrow – North West Evening Mail | 9,513 | -11.2 |
| Carlisle – News and Star East | 8,043 | -9.6 |
| Carlisle – News and Star West | 3,244 | -7.5 |
| Darlington – The Northern Echo | 27,819 | -9.5 |
| The Bolton News | 11,157 | -9.7 |
| The Gazette – Blackpool | 12,216 | -13.8 |
| Lancashire Evening Post | 13,129 | -11.9 |
| Lancashire Telegraph – Blackburn | 13,304 | 1.6 |
| Manchester Evening News | 60,327 | |
| Oldham Evening Chronicle | 8,663 | -11.9 |
| Wigan Evening Post | 4,036 | -10.1 |
| Liverpool Echo | 59,754 | |
| The Sentinel | 33,426 | -10.8 |
| Newcastle Evening Chronicle | 32,842 | |
| Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Journal | 15,807 | |
| South Shields – Shields Gazette | 8,178 | -19.1 |
| Sunderland Echo & Football Echo | 16,894 | -17.7 |
| Hull Daily Mail | 31,601 | -10 |
| York – The Press | 17,342 | -11.7 |
| Doncaster Star | 767 | -25.2 |
| Sheffield Star & Green ‘Un | 20,305 | -12.6 |
| Bradford – Telegraph & Argus | 16,737 | -11.5 |
| Huddersfield Daily Examiner | 14,051 | |
| Leeds – Yorkshire Evening Post | 20,093 | -16.1 |
| Leeds – Yorkshire Post | 27,903 | -10.1 |
| Daily Post (Wales) | 24,713 |
