On the ‘death’ of the newspaper

The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) six month figures have predictably enough shown almost all daily and weekly newspapers across Ireland and the UK taking a further tumble in sales.

The regional northern Irish dailies; the Belfast Telegraph, the Irish News and the Newsletter have all been sliding to some degree as Alan in Belfast’s fine graphics illustrate over on Slugger.

The Belfast Telegraph’s 11 .7% decline over the last six months is clearly the most pronounced, dropping 8,862 copies, somewhere in the region of 340 per week. The Irish News, while still recording a 3.2% decline, registered a less dramatic gradient, albeit still a declining one.

One of the key differences between the rival dailies has been the on-line news strategy. While the Irish News exclusively operates a pay-wall system, the Belfast Telegraph have set the standard for free online news content in Northern Ireland.