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Peninsula Metropolis newspaper claims 55th largest global circulation

Posted by Eric Mu, August 6, 2008 5:22 PM

Peninsula Metropolis Daily
August 6, 2008

Today's Peninsula Metropolis Daily, a daily newspaper whose distribution is limited to Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province, ran a big headline celebrating the newspaper's recent ascent to "the 55th strongest newspaper of the world."

The headline ("strongest") is a little misleading because the ranking mentioned is based only on circulation number, giving papers in populous countries like India and China an edge and enabling the boring and unread People's Daily to easily beat any American newspaper.

The ranking is allegedly from a recent report released by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). In the 2005 WAN rankings, Reference News (参考消息) was ranked eighth worldwide in terms of circulation, while People's Daily came in ninth.

The statistics quoted by the Peninsula Metropolis Daily shows that the Reference News has moved ahead to fifth place, while People's Daily is still number nine.

Beijing's newspapers fared badly in the rankings. Despite the city's constant boast that it has a more educated population than any other city, the only Beijing newspaper on the list is Beijing Evening News, which ranked 72, behind many other Chinese regional newspapers.

According to the list, the top Chinese regional newspaper in term of circulation is the Nanjing-based Yangtse Evening Post at #21, followed by three Guangzhou-based newspapers: Guangzhou Daily, Information Times, and New Express.

Although Danwei could not confirm the authenticity of the ranking, several blunders make the article seem less than trustworthy: There is no way that one newspaper could appear on the same list twice, but the New York Times does, at 45th and 93th place.

Southern Metropolis Daily, ranked 29th in 2005, has totally disappeared from this year's top 100 as reported in the article.

Links and Sources

Peninsula Metropolis Daily (Chinese): World newspaper circulation rankings released; PMD ranks 55
Earlier on Danwei: China is world's largest newspaper market
Xinhua (Chinese): 28 Chinese newspapers on the list of circulation

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Comments on Peninsula Metropolis newspaper claims 55th largest global circulation

Years ago, I got into a Beijing taxi only to be lectured on why Beijing was better than Hong Kong or New York -- because this building was this much higher, because there was this greater number of buildings, because China had this many more kilometers of highway, etc. (Obviously, this was after I'd identified myself as an American-raised Hong Konger). Had the driver actually gone to HK or NY? Of course not. But statistics proved....

It's well known in the newspaper industry that the higher-brow publications almost always have lower circulation numbers. The British tabloids that are full of mistakes and rumors sell far more copies than the finely edited Financial Times.

For years, the highest circulation publication in America was... TV Guide, a mindless listing of television programs, whose essential goal was to get people NOT to read. Does that mean TV Guide has better quality writing than The New Yorker?

This inverse relationship is true of almost any product: There are many more cheap plastic pens than Mont Blanc pens, more McDonald's than Michelin-starred restaurants, more Toyota Camrys than Maseratis, etc. I don't mean this to be snobby (I'm a cheap pen and McDonald's chicken salad girl, myself). It's just a statement of fact.

And while I understand a bit of self-promotion if you're ranked #1 in something, but it's kinda funny having a company brag about coming in in 55th place!

Posted by: Joyce Lau | August 7, 2008 2:05 AM