The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The distribution of the following The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated Press, and USA TODAY international and national news, but also incorporates Central Texas coverage, especially in political reporting. The paper covers the area's music scene, especially the annual South by Southwest Music Festival, and co-sponsors Austin events such as the Capital 10K, one of the largest 10K runs in the U.S., and the Season for Caring charity campaign. In the Austin market, the Statesman competes with the Austin Chronicle, an alternative weekly.
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Circulation
In 2009, the Austin American-Statesman ranked 60th in circulation among daily newspapers, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Figures from Scarborough Research show the Statesman — in print and online – reaches 68% of Central Texans in an average week.
Following a national trend among daily newspapers, the Statesman has seen drastic circulation declines in recent years. Austin is one of America's most internet-connected cities, though not ranked in the 25 largest "connected" cities, and in a related trend, the Statesman's daily circulation ranks among those cities seeing drops of 5% or more in recent reports. As compared to a U.S. national decline of 2.1%, the Statesman's daily circulation in the most recent six-month reporting period fell 5.6% to 173,527. Its Sunday circulation fell 5.5% to 215,984. Austin is the 11th-largest city (and the 35th-largest metropolitan area) in the U.S.