by John Koblin November 5, 2008
Newspapers dead?
Today's day-after the election issue of The New York Times—the one with the OBAMA banner headline that the paper's masthead decided on after consulting some of its readers—is selling out fast. (Need proof: Check out this photo from Gawker.)
The paper's spokeswman, Catherine Mathis, has told us that the paper is printing an extra 50,000 copies for the afternoon rush at transit-hubs like Grand Central, Penn Station, and Port Authority. It's a veritable P.M. editition of The Times!
"We had increased our print run for single copy sales today by about 35%," she writes. "In 2004 we saw an increase in sales of around 50,000 copies the day after the election and based on what we've seen today, we expect to significantly surpass those sales."
NYTimes.com—which has been shattering traffic records for over a month now—once again set another record yesterday, said Ms. Mathis. "There were 55.1 million page views, shattering the previous record by 29%," she writes.
Likewise, down in D.C., copies off The Washington Post seem to be flying off the newsstands. "The Washington Post increased copies available today for sale at retail locations and in newsboxes by 30%, but sold out within hours," writes a spokeswoman. More anecodotal, yes, but still.
