Bleeding Red Ink

Things are getting worse for the Star Tribune. I wrote last January about a memo that was sent out to employees about how revenue and circulation were down. Well the latest ABC numbers are out and according to MinnPost it's not getting any better.

Despite pledges to the contrary, the Star Tribune continues to hemorrhage print readers, according to an Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) report released today. During the same period, PiPress circulation was essentially flat.
The Strib lost 7 percent of subscribers on Sunday and weekdays between March 2007 and March 2008. That means 40,000 fewer people bought the lucrative Sunday paper; the drop was 24,000 on weekdays.
Here's how Sunday circulation has fallen over the past 18 months:
Sept. '06: 596,000
March '07: 574,000
Sept. '07: 570,000
March '08: 534,000
In the same period, daily circulation fell from 358,000 to 321,000.
The Strib’s Sunday decline was seventh-biggest among the nation's Top 25 papers and its daily decline was the sixth-largest. The Strib remains the 10th-biggest Sunday paper and slipped from 18th to 19th on weekdays.

Despite their "best" efforts, they still have not stemmed the tide of red ink flowing from the offices on Portland Avenue. Of course, some of the reason for that could be the fact that Nick Coleman is still employed there, but that's just a guess.

Will the brain trust on Portland Ave ever get it? Only time will tell, but I suspect that the only way to unseat the entrenched corporate mindset there is for the paper to close. I certainly hope that is not the case - I really don't want to see that happen, but there really seems to be no other way.