KHUJAND, July 9, 2009 Asia-Plus -- Circulations of newspapers run by local authorities have fallen in the northern Sughd province.

According to the Sughd directorate for printing enterprises, 11 printing houses in the province currently publish 25 state-run and private newspapers.

“In the beginning of this year, the Uzbek-language mouthpiece of the Sughd regional administration, Sughd Haqiqati , had a circulation of a 2,000 copies while at present its circulation fell to 1,750 copies,” said the source, “The circulation of the Tajik-language mouthpiece of the Sughd local authorities , Haqiqati Sughd , previously 4,930 copies, has fallen to 3,930 copies, and the circulation of the Russian-language mouthpiece, Sogdiyskaya Pravda , has fallen from 2,250 to 1,850 copies”

Specialists attribute the circulation fall to the fact that large-scale subscription campaign is carried out only in the beginning of the year and many subscribe to the mentioned newspapers only for the first six months.  “In the second half of year efforts to attract subscribers are not so active, and therefore, circulations are falling,” the source said.