Unnecessary Newsflash: Newspapers Are Dying!

Everybody knows that newspapers are dying. Whether it's the daily layoffs, the weekly closures, or the monthly editorials where one side makes an argument for reading the NYTimes on the Kindle while another side tries to convince the world that 'Nothing is better than the smell of newsprint,' the not-so-subtle sneak peeks at newspapers' obituaries are everywhere. But all of these portents of doom pale in comparison to a simple, succinct charting of the ever-dropping circulation numbers.

That's where Fitz & Jen come in. Dressed in dark, hooded cloaks and wearing neon orange-strapped newspaper delivery bags over their shoulders, they've put together an easy-to-read list of the country's Top 20 Sunday newspapers, comparing the circulation in 2000 to the circulation today. The results are predictably depressing. A 20% drop seems about average, with our home state heroes, The Boston Globe, dropping 35.4%. (If it makes you feel any better, Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News fell a whopping 39.4%!)

This Sunday, I want y'all to remember to take a good, long sniff at that newsprint. It's a scent soon to go the way of the Sex Panther.