Good news for journalism as news and current affairs magazines circulations grow

Posted by Mark Pack at Thu, 11/02/2010 - 12:42pm in Political commentary

The future for journalism is much debated in the context of declining newspaper sales and the question of whether their online operations can bring in sufficient income, whether by advertising, pay walls or other business models.

But the latest ABC figures for magazine circulation shows that there are sectors of printed journalism which are managing to grow, despite the competition from content freely available online.

Looking at the total average net circulation figures in the "News & current affairs" category of the ABC figures, the changes year on year are:

Business and finance +5.7%
Domestic +3.4%
International +0.0% (up by a sliver)
Science -9.2%

There is significant variation within those total by title and several different approaches to circulation (e.g. how much use is made of copies that are sold at less than full price), but overall the message is clear: despite the recession, the public is willing to spend increasing sums of money on some forms of printed journalism.

Tagged with: journalism