Daily CIRC Down 6.8%, Sunday Down 5.4%, On-Line UP 10-1/2% Newspaper Web Site Usage Report Shows Surge in Unique Visitors

With the release today of the audited daily newspaper circulation for the six months ending March 31 -- and an overall decline of 6.8 percent when compared to the same period last year -- there are now two basic questions dogging the newspaper business: *Is the unprecedented ad recession in which the business is currently mired cyclical -- that is, merely a function of the overall economy's free-fall -- or is it secular -- how much of the lost advertising is gone forever because of changes wrought by Internet and other non-print forms of media?