At one point in her speech to the Register and Tribune Retirees Club, Stier said the Register "is selling the heck out of newspapers’’ despite huge losses in advertising revenue since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"It’s the first time in quite a while that we’ve seen an uptick on the circulation side,’’ she said.

In a question-and-answer session following her speech, I asked Stier to be more specific about what the paper’s circulation figures are.

"I’m going to tell you, and you’re going to groan, because you can remember when it was much higher,’’ Stier answered. "Circulation is about 170,000 daily and 252,000 on Sunday.’’

Henry C. Phillips, a former vice-president of advertising at the Register, challenged those figures. Phillips now is publisher and editor of the Press Citizen Newspapers in Des Moines.

"After spending 20 years with Gannett--10 years as vice-president at the Register, mostly under Charlie Edwards and partly under Barbara Henry,’’ Phillips said he read Stier’s comments from the retirees’ luncheon "with interest.’’

Phillips said, according to the 2001 Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) report commissioned by most daily newspapers in America, including the Register, as the standard for circulation verification, daily circulation is 153,582 and Sunday circulation is 245,205.

"Those are the most recent Register circulation figures from ABC,’’ Phillips said, adding that the Register’s daily circulation hasn’t been 170,000 or higher since 1996.

The ABC audit report said the figures reflect total average paid circulation for 53 weeks, ending July 1, 2001.

Phillips earlier provided ABC figures for the Register, updated through March 31, 2001, that showed daily circulation to be 153,792 and Sunday circulation to be 235,211.

"The July 1 figures don’t mean the Sunday circulation grew from 235,000 to 245,000,’’ he said. "I think the reason for the jump may have something to do—but I don’t really know—with the Iowa City thing.’’

Stier told the retirees in her speech that the Register has worked out an arrangement with the Iowa City Press-Citizen, which, like the Register, is owned by the Gannett Co.

The Register’s Sunday paper is wrapped around the Iowa City paper, and Stier said the Register can count that as 10,000 subscriptions.

I contacted Stier’s office on Tuesday to see if she had any reaction to Phillips’ comments. An assistant to Stier e-mailed me this message on Thursday:

"Mrs. Stier has been traveling. I passed your question to her and she said the last ABC Audit ended September 30, 2001 and is an average over the previous 12 months. In her remarks, she was referring to circulation in (the) fourth quarter in the aftermath of September 11.’’

And Phillips doesn’t think the bleeding will end any time soon.

He said there is "absolutely no way’’ that the Register’s circulation will increase to where it was 10 or so years ago. Instead, he expects it to continue to decline.

"I believe that, if I’d been named publisher, things would be a hell of a lot different than they are,’’ Phillips said. "But they chose not to do that.

"I said six or seven years ago, when I was still at the Register, that where I think things are going to shake out is that they will have a daily circulation of between 90,000 and 110,000. That will be about the bottom. They won’t sell less than that. Sunday circulation will be in the 175,000 to 200,000 area. So they still have some losses to incur.’’

Phillips said he gets no joy from viewing the Register’s downhill slide in circulation.

"I am a newspaper person, and have been since my high school days many years ago,’’ he said. "I take no pleasure whatsoever in the misfortunes of the Des Moines Register, or any newspaper, in regards to circulation and readership.

"What troubles me is their willingness to lay blame, in its entirety, on external forces and take no personal responsibility for current trends. In that one fact, their fate is sealed. In that one fact, our success is assured.’’

Declining circulation for daily papers is a growing problem nationwide. Many reasons are given. Young people are no longer avid newspaper readers. More people, both young and old, get their news from TV. People in growing numbers get news from the Internet. Newspapers cost too much. Community papers, such as those published by Phillips, are making strong inroads. The economic situation is bad.

One of the things Stier told retirees about the circulation struggles was that "we’re still distributing newspapers in a very old model. If we keep doing that, we’re going to become the ‘Newspaper Des Moines Depends Upon.’’’

That was in reference to what it says on the front page of the paper today—that the Register is "The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon.’’

Phillips had this response to Stier’s comment: "I do not know what reports she reads but, according to their ABC record, Des Moines is not all that excited about the daily and Sunday newspaper, either. In east, north and south Des Moines, for example, only about three in 10 homes subscribe to the daily newspaper.

"The suburbs do not fare much better. Despite some perceptions to the contrary, suburban citizens around Des Moines buy daily subscriptions at a rate of about five in 10—hardly an overwhelming endorsement.’’

Phillips went on to say that "the clear and evident lack of a well defined local news mission and resources to support that mission will continue to hasten the eventual contraction of the Register into "The Paper That Some People in the Des Moines Area With a Lot of Time and a Lot of Money Read Sometimes.’’

The daily newspaper circulation slide didn’t happen overnight. Phillips saw it coming when he worked at the Register, and he said he tried unsuccessfully to improve the picture in the suburbs.

"I made a proposal on numerous occasions that the Register compete with itself and develop some suburban community newspapers,’’ he explained. "All I’m doing now is implementing what I suggested then.’’

Phillips said he expects his papers to improve and grow in the near-future.

He said the Press Citizen name is put on weekly papers delivered free in Ankeny, Johnston, Urbandale, Clive/Windsor Heights, West Des Moines, South Des Moines, East Des Moines, North and West Des Moines and Altoona/Pleasant Hill.

"We also have a paid newspaper, The Polk County Press Citizen,’’ Phillips said. "The price is $25 per year, mailed to your home. We call it the only newspaper solely devoted to the county.’’

The biggest increase came after my Jan.14 column on Stier and the "State of the Register’’ wound up on the Poynter Institute site, which is popular with newspaper people.

I heard from folks from around the nation whom I hadn’t been in contact with for 15 or 20 years. There were other e-mailers I didn’t even know. They contacted me because of their interest in the Register and its problems.

In the "Posted Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002’’ segment is the headline, "Maly: New Des Moines Register Editor Has Plenty of Challenges.’’

That brings me to a message I received last week from someone who had the name "P. Anger’’ in his e-mail address.

I’m going to take a wild guess and say P. Anger is Paul Anger, the Register’s new editor.

In his message to me, Anger wrote: "Please take me off your distribution list. Thanks.’’

And thanks to you, too.

I’m now accepting congratulations. I must be doing a number of things right with what I call a "25-watt website operation plugging away with a free e-mail account in a million-dollar, high-tech computer world.’’

That makes two editors in less than two weeks who asked to be taken off the list of people who receive these columns. The first was Dennis Ryerson, who preceded Anger as the Register’s editor.

Something tells me that neither guy particularly liked what he was reading on this site.

Can you believe it? Here I am, trying to suggest things in my occasional columns on journalism that will help make the paper better, and what happens? A couple of guys turn their backs to me.

As I explained earlier, I have made it a point to send copies of the column to anyone I am writing about. I think that’s a common courtesy.

I also regard it as a common courtesy to remove anyone from the e-mail list who asks to be taken off. I know how to use that "delete’’ button on my computer very well. The names Ryerson and Anger disappeared from my e-mail address book quickly.

The timing of Anger’s e-mail to me was interesting. It came shortly after my column on Stier first appeared on the Poynter Institute site. I get the idea the Register’s bosses didn’t particularly like it that the paper’s shortcomings were displayed on a big, national website, for every web browser to see.

In that column, I thought I was pretty nice to Anger, saying Stier called him a "meat-and-potatoes’’ editor who came from a sports department background.

Anger spent 18 years as executive sports editor at the Miami Herald. I hope he wasn’t as thin-skinned there as he seems to be now.

I even wrote that I was very happy Stier "has so much confidence in sports guys. It’s about time they got the respect they deserve in newsrooms.’’

I guess Anger didn’t appreciate what I wrote about him or about the many problems at the Register.

Heck, I had been thinking of asking Anger if he sometime wanted to have a Diet Coke (or a Bud Light, depending on his preference) as a gesture saying, "Hi, I’m Ron Maly, and I used to work at the paper. I’ve heard good things about you, and I’d like to wish you luck.’’

But I guess I can scrap that idea now. It sounds like he’s not interested in making any small talk with me. And, obviously, he’s not reading my columns anymore, so he won’t know that I was thinking of maybe having a Diet Coke with him. Too bad.

I guess I can also abandon any plan of maybe getting Anger to come to the midweek lunches I attend in suburban Des Moines. Our group includes a retired Register sports editor, a retired Register newsside columnist, two award-winning retired Register sportswriters and a couple of veteran Register copy editors who are still working.

We solve all of the world’s problems, and often the talk gets loud.

We sometimes attract interesting guests. Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy was there twice, and became an immediate hit when he pulled out a huge wad of money from his pocket and picked up the tab for the entire table on his first visit.

Drake Relays director Mark Kostek has also dined with us a couple of times. Marc Hansen occasionally comes to see us, and brought Sean Keeler, his successor as the Register’s sports columnist, a couple of weeks ago.

When I visited with Eustachy prior to a recent Iowa State game, he asked if we were still eating at the same place. I said we were, and he told me he’d be back for a return trip to the buffet line soon. The rest of the gang can’t wait.

I was thinking that maybe Anger would like to join us in the near-future so he could tell us how he’s planning to rebuild the paper. We’d be nice to him, just like we were nice to Eustachy, Kostek and Keeler. But, judging by the tone of Anger’s e-mail to me, it doesn’t look like he’d be interested in eating Thai food—or any other kind of food--with me or the rest of the group.

Despite that, I’ll just say that I wish Anger well in his new job. He’s got some big challenges, but every newspaper job is full of challenges these days. And, if Anger is ever interested in having that Diet Coke, I’m—as they say in the movies—in the book. I’ll even buy the first round.

By the way, that same offer does not apply to Ryerson. I am not interested in drinking anything with him.

One other thing about the e-mails. Since Ryerson and Anger asked to be removed from my mailing list, eight people have asked to be put on.

Somehow, I’m extremely confident I’ll survive very nicely without sending any columns to Ryerson and Anger. And I will continue doing what I do—writing about anything that interests me, including sports commentary and doing occasional reviews on newspapers and the people who work at them.

One of these days, I may even get around to writing those health and travel essays I’ve been promising.

The column detailing what Stier told the Register retirees was obviously read with interest in the paper’s newsroom, as well as in the newsrooms of a lot of other newspapers.

However, one man who no doubt wasn’t in a real upbeat mood after reading what Stier said was Register business editor David Elbert.

I’m told the first Elbert knew that Stier thought his business section was "weak’’ was when he read it in my column. Stier told the retirees that the business section "doesn’t have a mission. It doesn’t know what it wants to be.’’

Some wonder if Stier was sending a "message’’ to Elbert with her comments to the retirees. Maybe so. I’ve also been told by several people that Stier later called Elbert up to her office to apologize for what she said about his section. Something tells me this will be an ongoing story. Stay tuned.

Actually, I’ve sometimes admired Elbert’s work over the years. I particularly envied him the day he got to write the story that Ryerson was leaving town.

Stier also told the retirees she’d like to see the Register’s sports pages "beefed-up.’’ A lot of us share her beliefs on that. She’s off to a good start with the hiring of columnist Sean Keeler.

I liked Keeler’s work even before he mentioned my name in his first column.

One of the functions of this column is problem-solving.

A guy who spent a lot of years in newspaper offices tells me he now is leading a rather quiet life.

"I spend most of my time trying to figure out what the hell Diane Graham does,’’ he writes. "Nobody seems to know.’’

I have tried to get away from wondering about such things in recent years. On the other hand, I attempt to provide meaningful information for readers. However, I didn’t come up with much to help my e-mailer friend. All I know about Graham is that she has worked at the Register a long time, and is now called managing editor/staff development.

I even asked "Alive in Clive (Not His Real Name)’’—an avid reader and a man who is interested in newspapers--if he had any insight into this matter. Unfortunately, he didn’t.

When "Alive in Clive (Not His Real Name)’’ doesn’t have the answer, no one does.

But research on the subject will continue.

[Ron Maly’s e-mail address is malyr@juno.com]