Web continues to challenge newspapers

Newspaper circulation in Massachusetts and nationwide continued its decline, with daily and Sunday circulation dropping almost 5 percent in September from a year earlier as readers migrate to the Internet, where news is typically free, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Two of Massachusetts' biggest papers suffered steep declines, the audit bureau said yesterday. Daily paid circulation at The Boston Globe fell to 323,983, down 10.2 percent from last year, while Sunday dropped 8.2 percent, to 503,659. The Boston Herald's circulation slid 9.9 percent, to 167,506, while Sunday declined 7.4 percent, to 100,760.

The nation's two biggest daily papers, however, bucked the trend: USA Today and The Wall Street Journal reported no change in daily circulation from a year ago.

Daily circulation at the country's third-largest daily paper, The New York Times, dropped 3.6 percent to 1 million, while Sunday circulation fell 4.1 percent to 1.44 million. The paper, like the Globe, is owned by The New York Times Co.

Globe spokesman Bob Powers said the paper maintains a high degree of quality. Last week, the paper introduced a daily magazine-style section called "g." The Globe also had a sharp increase in unique visitors to its website in September - attracting 8.9 million readers, more than double the figure a year earlier, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Since spring, the year-to-year increase in monthly unique visitors has ranged between 4 and 23 percent.

- Jenifer B. McKim