That would mean that The Wall Street Journal became the biggest paper in America for the six months ending in September, based on paid circulation.

In many ways, the news should not be a surprise. The entire publishing industry -- both newspapers and magazines -- is cutting unprofitable circulation. When advertising was robust, these money-losing subscribers were part of the reader base sold to advertisers. The advertising revenue made up for the red ink that they created.

Now that print advertising has collapsed, each subscriber and newsstand buyer has to be his own profit center. This is likely to cause a number of the country's largest magazines and newspapers to cut their circulations by 30 percent or more. Newsweek recently cut its circulation base by more than that, and so has Readers' Digest. The days of mass market publications are coming to an end.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.