Circulation drops again for top U.S. newspapers

NEW YORK (AP) — Top U.S. newspapers posted further declines in circulation Monday with the exception of USA Today and The Wall Street Journal, which have held up better than others as more readers go online.

Apart from those two national dailies, which eked out gains of under 1 percent each, every other newspaper in the top 20 posted declines, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the six-month period ending in March.

USA Today, owned by industry leader Gannett Co., remained the top-selling paper in the country with an average daily circulation of 2,284,219, up 0.3 percent.

The Wall Street Journal kept its No. 2 spot at 2,069,463, up 0.4 percent. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought the Journal's parent company Dow Jones & Co. last December.