Congratulations Pat Beall and Lawrence Mower at the Palm Beach Post

In Sunday's paper (4/19) is a short story in the 'A' section about two Palm Beach Post reporters, Pat Beall and Lawrence Mower, who are finalists for the "prestigious Investigative Reporters & Editors national awards to mark the best investigative reporting in newspapers in 2014." (Could not find a link to the Post story in the on-line edition.) Good luck to the both of you.

What caught my eye was this: they are finalists "in the category for newspapers with circulation of less than 150,000". I don't know about you but that was a shock to me. Under 150,000? Palm Beach County is the second largest county in the United States east of the Mississippi River. How could the circulation be so low?

So did a few minutes of research (Google search). The Tampa Bay Times is the best newspaper in Florida and one of the best in the nation so would expect a high circulation. How they stack up against newspapers in south Florida might surprise you:

Tampa Bay Times: 240,024

Sun Sentinel: 226,591

Miami Herald: 147,130

Palm Beach Post: 88,231

People can speculate as to why the number is so startlingly low. I have my thoughts and if you're a reader of this blog you probably know what they are: if they're interested in increasing their circulation they might want to consider a new editorial board.