Business Reporters Count Circulation Numbers of Own Papers

The San Francisco Chronicle's editorial staff rarely focuses on the Audit Bureau of Circulation's circulation reports. But when the bureau reported on Monday that the Chronicle's daily circulation had dropped by a national high of 16.6 percent in a year, Tom Abate was assigned the story.

Abate was one of several business reporters nationwide charged with writing about their paper's new circulation numbers, after overall figures fell nationally by 2.6 percent in the six months that ended Sept. 30.

Many of them had to interview bosses and other company executives. They did not shy away from that challenge; in most cases they approached these interviews as they would an interview with any businessperson.

The Chronicle usually runs a brief on the circulation reports, which are released every six months. But after the paper's slide was a lead story on Editor & Publisher's Web site and Poynter.org's Romenesko blog, Abate says, "you could not ignore the prominence of the paper" in the national story.

So Abate interviewed Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega and spokeswoman Patty Hoyt, and balanced his story by talking to a newspaper analyst and a local advertising buyer.

The presence of the latter source separated Abate's piece from many others published this week about the newspaper circulation news.

"I thought it would be important to get a voice from the advertising world on how this would be received," Abate says.

Abate refused to be intimidated while interviewing his colleagues, but did not want to be too harsh on them. For example, he had "a frank exchange" with Vega, he says, but cut from his story a quote by the advertising buyer criticizing the Chronicle's advertising prices.

"I'm writing about my own institution," he says. "Do I want to drive a stake through the heart of my employer? No."

While Abate was able to speak with his employer on the record, Will Shanley, a finance reporter for The Denver Post, was not as fortunate.

A publicist for the Denver Newspaper Agency, which jointly operates The Post and The Rocky Mountain News, informed Shanley that a prepared statement from CEO Kirk MacDonald was the only comment the company would have for Shanley's story on the papers' combined 4.1 percent drop in daily circulation.

Shanley says he doesn't know why MacDonald declined to comment further. He was especially puzzled because MacDonald spoke to him for a similar story he wrote after the previous circulation numbers were released six months ago.

At that time, Shanley had no trouble interviewing his boss.

"It's our job to provide a balanced report," Shanley says. "He understands we have a job to do."

Part of the job for many business reporters includes writing the circulation story regularly -- too regularly for some.

Count Helen Huntley, personal finance editor for the St. Petersburg Times, among that group. Huntley writes the story every six months. Either it comes off as predicting doom, or as bragging, depending on how the paper did, she says.

But these pieces are not any tougher to do than the typical business story, Huntley says, because she doesn't mind interviewing her colleagues.

"I feel like I could ask them anything I wanted to," says Huntley, who interviewed the Times' circulation director and publisher, among others, for her piece.

"They make optimistic comments about how things are going to improve," Huntley adds. "I don't know that I'm convinced they will improve, but that's their opinion, so I quoted them on that."

Huntley questions whether readers are very concerned about circulation numbers. Other business reporters think they are, citing the number of e-mails they have received since their stories were published.

Readers are also essentially regular customers, Shanley says, and deserve full disclosure about the newspaper to which they subscribe. Abate agrees.

"I'm glad we did the staff story," Abate says. "I think you have an obligation to try and do these things � even if the news is not positive."

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism