Editor and Publisher yesterday and the Democrat-Gazette today noted that the Ark. Democrat-Gazette in recent months had not been immune from a national trend of declining daily newspaper circulation — a nearly 7 percent (make that .7 percent, Editor and Publisher misfigured the math) drop in Sunday circulation for the six months ending March 31. Publisher Walter Hussman was quoted on the impact of the proliferation of free content on the web.

“It is hard to compete with free,” said Hussman.

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Indeed, but help me. Wasn’t there a  newspaper war in Arkansas won by a publisher who gave away free classified ads, who carried untold numbers of free-riders on home delivery, who gave away a free newspaper to just about everybody in the city every Wednesday and who printed more pages no matter whether revenue supported it or not? And didn’t the same guy recently start a free newspaper in LR?

 

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