The Audit Bureau of Circulations reported an overall decline in daily American newspaper circulation numbers for the six months ending March 2010, with a few exceptions. (New ABC rules dictate that online editions are included as well.)

First, the bad news. Overall circulation was down 2.6 percent from 19 million to 18.5 million. The New York Times was down 3.4 percent to 916,911, The Washington Post was down 4.8 percent to 550,821, and both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution were down 6.5 percent to fewer than 200,000 copies.

Now the good news. The Wall Street Journal was up 1.2 percent to 2,117,796, giving it the highest circ, and The Chicago Tribune was up an eye-popping 56 percent to 419,407 because branded editions also count now.

Also good news, the decline is not as steep as periods past. And, always good news, people are keenly interested in news, although they’re now getting it from a variety of sources.

[via Mediapost]