Improvements in Newspapers Quality and Circulation Patterns in 37 Newspapers That "Did It Right".

Improvements in Newspapers Quality and Circulation Patterns in 37 Newspapers That "Did It Right"This paper examines 37 U.S. newspapers identified by Editor and Publisher as making important changes to improve their overall newspaper quality. The kinds of changes the newspapers made were categorized into improvement and expansion of local news, redesign, increase in in-depth reporting, and increases in staff. We then linked both newspaper size and the types of change made with percent changes in circulation in the five, three, and one year before the Editor and Publisher award was made. These percent changes were compared with the mean change for each newspaper's circulation size group. Results show the majority of these papers were beating the comparators. Staff increases and increase in size of the local news hole had the most consistent positive effect on circulation, although only daily, not on Sunday. Results are discussed in terms of media economics theory. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]