Newspaper & link	Sept. 30, 2004 daily circ.	'03-'04 change	Streak	Ownership
1	USA Today	2,220,863	+66,333	+2	Gannett Co., Inc.
2	Wall Street Journal	2,106,774	+15,712	+6	Dow Jones
3	New York Times	1,121,057	+2,492	+6	New York Times
4	Los Angeles Times	902,164	-12,420	-5	Tribune Co.
5	New York Daily News	715,052	-14,072	-1
6	Washington Post	707,690	-25,182	-4	Washington Post
7	New York Post	686,207	+33,781	+8
8	Chicago Tribune	600,988	-79,891	-1*	Tribune Co.
9	Houston Chronicle	554,783	+1,765	+5	Hearst Newspapers
10	Dallas Morning News	519,014	+8,881	+3	A.H. Belo Corp.
11	San Francisco Chronicle	505,022	-7,618	-1	Hearst Newspapers
12	Chicago Sun-Times	481,890	+92	+2	Hollinger
13	Newsday	481,816	-98,253	-1*	Tribune Co.
14	Boston Globe	451,471	+10,933	+1	New York Times
15	Arizona Republic	413,268	-19,016	-4	Gannett Co., Inc.
16	Newark Star-Ledger	400,042	-8,630	-1	Advance Publications
17	Atlanta Constitution	386,015	+14,162	+2	Cox Newspapers
18	Minneapolis Star Tribune	381,094	+740	+4	McClatchy Newspapers
19	Philadelphia Inquirer	368,883	-7,610	-1
20	Cleveland Plain Dealer	354,309	-10,979	-1	Advance Publications

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2001 rankings || 2000 rankings || 1999 rankings || 1998 rankings || 1997 rankings || 1996 rankings
2000 details || Big deals || JOAs

21	Detroit Free Press	348,838	-3,876	-3
22	Oregonian	337,707	+2,924	+1	Advance Publications
23	St. Petersburg Times	330,091	-4,381	-1
24	Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald	315,988	+138	+2
25	San Diego Union-Tribune	311,324	-17,207	-6	Copley
26	Orange County Register	303,418	+554	+2	Freedom Comm.
27	Sacramento Bee	293,705	+3,800	+2	McClatchy Newspapers
28	St. Louis Post-Dispatch	286,310	+441	+1	Pulitzer Publishing
29	Kansas City Star	275,747	+8,474	+1
30	Denver Post	275,292	-13,645	-4	MediaNews
31	Rocky Mountain News	275,136	-13,753	-4	Scripps Howard
32	Baltimore Sun	267,993	-33,193	-1	Tribune Co.
33	San Jose Mercury News	263,067	-8,930	-2
34	Orlando Sentinel	258,881	+1,659	+3	Tribune Co.
35	New Orleans Times-Picayune	252,799	-811	-2	Advance Publications
36	Indianapolis Star	252,021	+2,130	+1	Gannett Co., Inc.
37	Columbus Dispatch	251,045	-1,519	-1
38	Boston Herald	240,759	-698	-3
39	Milwaukee Journal Sentinel	240,581	-3,707	-1
40	Pittsburgh Post-Gazette	238,860	-3,686	-2	Blade Communications

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2001 rankings || 2000 rankings || 1999 rankings || 1998 rankings || 1997 rankings || 1996 rankings
2000 details || Big deals || JOAs

41	Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel	236,190	+2,556	+1	Tribune Co.
42	Seattle Times	231,051	-454	-1	Seattle Times Co.
43	Tampa Tribune	226,573	+2,353	+3	Media General
44	San Antonio Express-News	226,109	+3,573	+3	Hearst Newspapers
45	Charlotte Observer	226,092	-767	-2
46	Detroit News	224,215	-3,167	-3	Gannett Co., Inc.
47	Fort Worth Star-Telegram	223,098	+7,646	+1
48	Louisville Courier-Journal	207,665	-5,511	-4	Gannett Co., Inc.
49	Norfolk Virginian-Pilot	200,055	-1,086	-1	Landmark Comm.
50	Daily Oklahoman	197,507	-10,031	-1
51	Buffalo News	196,429	-11,560	-2	Berkshire Hathaway
52	Omaha World-Herald	192,607	+532	+2	Omaha World-Herald Co.
53	LA Investor's Business Daily	191,846	-23,942	-4
54	Hartford Courant	191,500	+5,930	+1	Tribune Co.
55	St. Paul Pioneer Press	191,264	+332	+1
56	Richmond Times-Dispatch	184,950	-3,590	-1	Media General
57	Cincinnati Enquirer	183,051	+875	+1	Gannett Co., Inc.
58	Riverside Press-Enterprise	182,682	-1,192	-1	A.H. Belo Corp.
59	Contra Costa Times	182,647	+106	+2
60	Arkansas Democrat-Gazette	182,391	-952	-2	Wehco Media

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2001 rankings || 2000 rankings || 1999 rankings || 1998 rankings || 1997 rankings || 1996 rankings
2000 details || Big deals || JOAs

61	Los Angeles Daily News	178,404	+44	+3	MediaNews
62	Austin American-Statesman	177,926	-5,386	-1	Cox Newspapers
63	Bergen Record	176,177	-3,093	-1	Macromedia
64	Nashville Tennessean	170,361	-1,788	-2	Gannett Co., Inc.
65	Palm Beach Post	168,257	-890	-1	Cox Newspapers
66	Providence Journal	168,021	+412	+4	A.H. Belo Corp.
67	Rochester Democrat and Chronicle	166,727	-7,173	-1	Gannett Co., Inc.
68	Florida Times-Union	165,425	-2,426	-8	Morris Communications
69	Raleigh News & Observer	164,294	+525	+8	McClatchy Newspapers
70	Memphis Commercial Appeal	163,731	+5,911	+3	Scripps Howard
71	Asbury Park Press	160,339	-6,945	-3	Gannett Co., Inc.
72	Fresno Bee	160,143	+1,492	+8	McClatchy Newspapers
73	Las Vegas Review-Journal	159,507	-884	-3	Donrey Media
74	Des Moines Register	152,800	-85	-1	Gannett Co., Inc.
75	Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald	149,446	-918	-1	Paddock Pub.
76	Seattle Post-Intelligencer	145,964	-4,887	-8	Hearst Newspapers
77	Birmingham (AL) News	145,506	-3,432	-1	Paddock Pub.
78	Honolulu Advertiser	141,341	-684	-3	Gannett Co., Inc.
79	Westchester NY Journal News	141,031	-1,842	-1	Gannett Co., Inc.

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2001 rankings || 2000 rankings || 1999 rankings || 1998 rankings || 1997 rankings || 1996 rankings
2000 details || Big deals || JOAs

80	Toledo Blade	139,398	-122	-2	Blade Communications
81	Grand Rapids Press	138,126	-494	-2	Advance Publications
82	Tulsa World	137,231	-2,152	-1
83	Philadelphia Daily News	135,956	-7,675	-6
84	Akron Beacon Journal	135,002	+601	+1
85	Salt Lake City Tribune	133,025	-1,960	-1	Kearns-Tribune Corp.
86	Tacoma News Tribune	127,928	-583	-2	McClatchy Newspapers
87	La Opinion	124,990	+298	-3	ImpreMedia
88	Dayton Daily News	122,639	-4,003	-3	Cox Newspapers
89	Syracuse Post-Standard	118,962	-1,739	-3	Advance Publications
90	Wilmington News Journal	115,641	-757	-3	Gannett Co., Inc.
91	Columbia (S.C.) State	115,464	+1,022	+1
92	Lexington Herald-Leader	114,234	+7,293	+1
93	Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel	113,994	-599	-1	Scripps Howard
94	Allentown Morning Call	111,956	+362	+1	Tribune Co.
95	Sarasota Herald-Tribune	110,783	+521	+1	New York Times
96	Pittsburgh Tribune-Review	108,109	-11,537	-1	Tribune Review Pub. Co.
97	Albuquerque Journal	107,306	-2,387	-1	Albuquerque Publishing
98	Daytona Beach News-Journal	107,086	+2,432	new
99	Worcester Telegram & Gazette	103,113	+521	+1	New York Times
100	Stuart FL News/Press-Tribune	101,705	+2,481	new	Scripps Howard

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2001 rankings || 2000 rankings || 1999 rankings || 1998 rankings || 1997 rankings || 1996 rankings
2000 details || Big deals || JOAs

* Several years of fradulently inflated circulation claims at four large newspapers came to light in 2003 and 2004. They involved figures for Newsday and its Spanish-language Hoy newspaper, the Dallas Morning News and the Chicago Sun-Times.

The newspapers refunded millions of dollars to advertisers and came under more rigorous auditing by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The practices also led to resignations, lawsuits from shareholders and staffing cuts.

Following its November, 2003, admission of circulation inflation, Newsday cut its reported circulation figures by 100,000 copies daily and 120,000 on Sunday. The Sun-Times admitted it had inflated figures for seven years, into 2003. It reported inflation of more than 10 percent in 2003 and cut its reported circulation by 72,000 copies. In Dallas, the Morning News said it overstated weekday circulation by 1.5 percent and Sunday circulation by 5 percent because of a 1999 change in the way the company counted "returns", newspaper jargon for unsold newsstand papers.

The latest circulation numbers on most U.S. dailies are available from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Examine larger circulation trends, and probe deeper than the top 100 -- though not with details on individual papers -- in the Newspaper Association of America's Information Resource Center.

An excellent source for information about newspaper ownership and sales is the web site of Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, the nation's largest newspaper merger-and-acquisition firm.

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