Many of the largest US newspapers were again hit by circulation falls in the six months through March. Weekday circulation for 395 US papers accelerated to an average 7.1% from the same six-month period a year earlier, according to data released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Sunday circulation for 557 daily newspapers was down 5.37%. Visitors to newspaper websites rose 10.5% in the first quarter.

The Wall Street Journal was the only paper among the top 25 to record an increase in circulation, rising 0.6% to 2.08 million weekday copies. The Journal narrowed the gap with USA Today, the country's largest daily newspaper. USA Today, saw circulation drop 7.5% to 2.11 million. Circulation at The New York Post tumbled 20.5%. The price of the tabloid had been hiked to 50 cents, from 25 cents.

Both the Journal and the Post are owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Newspaper circulation has been falling both because of greater use of free news websites and decisions by publishers to cut discounted circulation and deliveries outside their main areas of operation.

Eleven of the 25 largest US dailies reported falls of 10% or more in average daily circulation for the period, up from one paper recording such a dip in the same period a year earlier. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reported a nearly 20% drop. It is among newspapers, that have curtailed the geographic distribution of their papers.

In the first quarter of 2009, newspaper websites attracted more than 73 million unique visitors each month, on average, according to tracking by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). That is a 10.5% increase from the first quarter of 2008.

In addition, newspaper website visitors generated an average of more than 3.5 billion page views per month throughout the quarter, an increase of 12.8 percent over the same period a year ago (3.1 billion page views).  These figures are the highest for any quarter since the NAA began tracking the data in 2004. 

“Digital success has become a critical component of newspapers’ transformation, and these record audience numbers provide further proof that Americans continue to rely on the trusted newspaper brand for highly accurate news and information in print and online,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm.“In an increasingly challenging media environment, consumers know they can turn to newspapers – whether in hardcopy or digital form – for insightful analysis and comprehensive reporting on the issues that impact their lives day in and day out.”  

In March, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer closed its print edition. The Hearst Corp. announced that it would stop publishing the 146-year old newspaper, Seattle's oldest business, and cease delivery to more than 117,600 weekday readers.

The company, however, said it would maintain seattlepi.com, making it the nation's largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product.

However long-term, the free web model will have to end for newspapers to achieve sustainability.

The Wall Street Journal is the only newspaper with a successful online subscription model.