Newspapers Still in Decline
Circulation of old-fashioned print news media continued a years-long decline in 2012, with all major newspapers reporting smaller print runs this January compared with a year earlier.
Postimees and Eesti Päevaleht had the biggest drops in their average daily print runs over the year, down by 3,500 and 3,300 respectively, according to the Newspaper Association.
The former continues to be the most-read newspaper in Estonia, with a daily average of 54,700 copies in January. The tabloid Õhtuleht was second, at 50,800, having only reduced its print run by 400 copies. Eesti Päevaleht's average print run was 22,600.
Äripäev, the main business daily, reduced its print run by 700 compared with last January, coming in at a daily average of 11,000 copies during the month.
Among weeklies, the rural-life-oriented Maaleht continued to have the biggest print run, followed by Eesti Ekspress, which focuses on investigative journalism. Maaleht saw its print run decline by 400 to 52,500 and Eesti Ekspress by 400 to 30,400.
The heyday for Estonian newspaper journalism was in 2007, when Postimees had a print run of 69,000.