English
• Huge discrepancies between the circulation figures audited by the BRAT and the statements of the former editor-in-chief of "Adevărul"
• Adrian Halpert claims that the circulation of the daily "Adevărul" was half of the figure certified by the BRAT
The circulation figures for the papers audited by the BRAT were unintentionally invalidated in a "farewell" letter that Adrian Halpert, sent to his colleagues at the "Adevărul" daily, where he was a managing editor until yesterday, when he resigned:
"I remember the moment when, in October 2006, I stepped for the first time inside the building of the Adevărul Holding. In fact, calling it a Holding would not be accurate. At the time, inside the dark and rooms with a typical smell of old building of the Free Press House, I found a daily that was in its death throes, that wasn"t even selling 4,000 copies at the newsstands", says Halpert.
Worth noting: "October 2006" = "wasn"t even selling 4,000 copies".
The figures of the Romanian Circulation Auditing Office (BRAT) paint a whole different picture for the month of October 2006: they are double the ones stated by Adrian Halpert!
BRAT claims that "Adevărul" sold 8,370 copies a day on average during the period mentioned by Halpert.
Since we were intrigued at how such a major discrepancy could occur, we contacted Silviu Ispas, the chairman of the BRAT, who explained: "I can"t really comment the statements of Adrian Halpert. Perhaps the 4,000 copies were those sold at the newsstands and the rest were subscriptions. Besides, what Adrian Halpert is saying is a whole different issue, especially since he is a former employee of the publication... It is a rare occurrence when the managing editor would know the circulation figures. The best thing would be for you to ask the daily"s distribution director. I can tell you that the BRAT certifies the figures using accounting and legal records found in the client"s archives".
It doesn"t make sense.
Halpert is referring to the number of copies sold at newsstands, and the BRAT is referring to the number of copies sold at newsstands.
Aren"t they talking about the same thing?
Yes, they are.
One of them says "less than 4,000", the other one says "over 8,000".
Do these figures match?
They obviously don"t.
As for the claim of Mr. Ispas that a managing editor would not have access (unless in very rare cases) to the circulation figures, we would like to inform him that under normal circumstances, reviewing the circulation figures is part of the job description of a managing editor, because without them he would have no feedback (not to mention that when Halpert could very well have looked at the BRAT website, where those figures are published, which is what we did).
Of course, the managing editor does not need the circulation figures, in case they are manipulated by the Romanian Circulation Auditing Office, which would make it impossible for him to get any feed-back on whether the paper is doing great or failing to attract readers.
On the other hand, the figures displayed by the BRAT are used by the advertising agencies in persuading their clients to go with one publication or the other, when distributing their ads between the various papers.
Of course, neither the managing editor, nor the chairman of the BRAT or the manager of the advertising agency feel guilty when the customer"s ad fails to yield any results and doesn"t lead to increased sales.
They"re all saying the same thing: "The BRAT certifies the figures using financial statements and legal documents from the customers" archives".
It"s as if no one"s ever heard of forged figures and reversing entries.
Few people know that if one were to ever go check with the Ministry of Finance, they would find out that the figures contained in the "financial statements and legal documents" filed with the Ministry "from the client"s archives" are sometimes ten times lower than the ones published by the BRAT.
Halpert didn"t mean to say what he did.
He was discussing something else entirely.
But that"s just what came out ...
Manipulating the circulation figures for printed press - is it a subject that is of interest to others, beyond journalists?
Yes, it definitely is!
Advertising in the printed media is distributed based on circulation figures.
If the circulations figures are forged, then the ads don"t reach potential customers.
This not only means money wasted on inefficient advertising, but also dropping sales for advertisers.
Which is a major issue of Romania that Romania is facing: the economic contraction and the difficulty of launching new businesses.
Expensive and inefficient advertising - that is the issue here.
•
• Silviu Ispas has a last minute change of heart on his statement!
As we were preparing to go print, the president of the BRAT, Silviu Ispas, went back on his verbal statement, with a written message:
"According to the figures posted on the website of the BRAT, in October 2006, Adevărul published a number of 27,097 copies, of which 8,371 were sold by retailers, with the remaining copies being distributed via other means: paid subscriptions - 16,904 copies, promotional copies - 1,617 copies, etc. If we look at the prior period of 2006, for instance at the April-August 2006 period, the retail sales were 5,447 copies on average. A clear distinction needs to be made between the number of copies distributed and the number of copies sold by retailers, because apart from copies sold by retailers, the former also includes paid or free subscriptions, as well as the copies distributed by the publisher free of charge.
The figures on the website of the BRAT are public and need to be interpreted according to the definitions available on the same website. They are also obtained by auditing the statements of the publishers, based on the documents made available to Ernst&Young, which was the internal auditor at the time.
The phrasing of Mr. Halpert should be considered as an estimate, since he was not a member of the distribution department of the paper, and at any rate, it explicitly concerned the number of copies sold by newsstands, which is very similar to the numbers confirmed by circulation audit performed during that the period. I for one don"t feel that the statement of Mr. Halpert is one that would cause controversy, I think it is a realistic statement."
Unfortunately, this new interpretation doesn"t make any more sense than the previous one, as the discrepancies between the figures remain significant.
The gross circulation recorded by the BRAT in the period in question, is 34,.997 copies, divided as follows: 7,865 copies returned to the publisher, 16,839 subscriptions, 8,383 copies sold by retailers and 1,688 promotional copies, plus 206 copies distributed upon request.
So how does Mr. Ispas reach the figure of almost 8,000 returned copies?
From subscriptions?! From the 8,000 copies sold at the newsstands?!
From the 1,800 "promotional and requested copies"?
No, Mr. Ispas, if Mr. Halpert"s statement is realistic, (and we do tend to believe him), then the BRAT is nothing but a fantasy.
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