BY SHIRA OVIDE
Average weekday newspaper circulation for the six months ended Sept. 30 dropped nearly 11%, the starkest decline in years anda sign of both the industry's deepening troubles and its efforts to purposely pare unprofitable copies.
Nearly two-thirds of the 25 largest papers in the U.S. posted circulation declines of 10% or more. Hearst Corp.'s San Francisco Chronicle, which posted a 26% drop in circulation, andAdvance Publications Inc.'s Star-Ledger in New Jersey, with a decline of more than 22% from a year earlier.The sharpest falloffs for the group were at The results, released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, an ...