Steep circulation drops at LA Times, Chicago Trib

Editor & Publisher:

The Tribune Co. announced this morning that circulation at its two largest papers, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, experienced steep declines.

During a conference call to investors, Jack Fuller, president of Tribune's publishing division, who announced his retirement late yesterday, said that at the Times, daily circulation for the six-month period ending September 2004 stood at 902,164 and that Sunday circ was 1,292,274, or roughly "a range of" 6% drop.

The Tribune reported daily circulation of 591,504 and a Sunday circ of 963,926, or a 2.5% and 4% decline, respectively.

It's yet another sign that people are turning away from newspapers and toward online media