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Local life is online                                13/10/11

The Hebrides News website is overtaking the weekly Stornoway Gazette as a dominant source for Western Isles news.  Recently released official circulation figures show that island newspapers are rapidly losing readers as more and more people abandon print papers and go online instead.

If present trends continue downwards as expected, the freefalling Stornoway Gazette would sell less than 10,000 copies a week by the end of December- well down from its 14,000 level some years ago.

It is losing circulation at a worrying rate of 6% since last year according to the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations statistics. The speed of decline seems to be increasing every six months with little sign of it levelling off.  

In common with other regional titles, the steady falls means far fewer people are reading newspapers, making them less attractive to advertisers who are now looking at the significant benefits of reaching a large audience online at much cheaper prices.

The Gazette is now selling 1,076 copies less per week than just two years ago. Its readers are drifting away in droves with the present figure of 10,394  well down on the 11,470 level at the end of June 2009.

The West Highland Free Press is also experiencing a fall in circulation. It is presently at 8,230 weekly copies compared to 8,642 in December 2009.

In stark contrast, the Hebrides News website has a loyal readership and is accessed by 30,000 to 40,000 unique users - the way of measuring internet readers - over the month. Normally, around 5,000 unique users visit the site each day.

It is considered a great resource by oil workers, seaman and islanders working off the island. A very large number of young - and not so young - people, students, graduates simply do not bother much with local print newspapers. Changing habits mean those of them who do  now tend to scan the newspapers rather than read them properly while many thousands of islanders - of all ages- regularly access internet news.