The Audit Bureau of Circulations has just released the latest figures for the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald, and as usual, the local dailies inhabit parallel universes in their coverage of the numbers.

For starters, the Globe report appears in the Business section; the Herald covers its circulation in the news section.

But the differences go way beyond that.

The Ledes

Boston Globe:

The Boston Globe’s paid circulation has grown for the first time since September 2004, according to an independent auditor of newspaper circulation.

Boston Herald:

The number of visitors to the Herald’s website has soared by a staggering 25 percent in the past year as more readers get their content online, the latest statistics show.

Some 2.6 million unique visitors — the most significant measure of website traffic — come to bostonherald.com on average every month.

The Actual Numbers

The Globe fudged its circulation by adding digital subscribers (aka lunch money):

Average Sunday circulation was 365,512 for the six months that ended in March, an increase of 2.5 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Average daily circulation rose nearly 2.9 percent during those same six months, to 225,482.

The numbers include print circulation and digital subscriptions to BostonGlobe.com, which was launched in October.

The Herald reported a knee-buckling decline in its print numbers:

The Herald’s print circulation was reported in the latest audit as 108,548 daily, a 12 percent decline over the past six months. Sunday print circulation is 81,925, an approximately 6 percent decline.

The Other’s Numbers

Globe:

Average daily circulation at the Boston Herald – which does not have paid digital subscriptions – fell 12.3 percent to 108,548 in the six months ended in March, compared with the same period a year before. The newspaper’s Sunday circulation declined 6.2 percent, to 81,925

Herald:

The new audit saw the Boston Globe’s daily print circulation fall below the 200,000 mark for the first time in its history, registering at 192,605 — a 10 percent drop.

The Globe did claim 33,000 paid subscribers to the online product for a total gain in paid readership of 2.9 percent.

But those online gains are to bostonglobe.com — a non-replica edition with little value to advertisers looking to have their print ads duplicated online.

The Quibbles

Contrary to what the Herald reported, BostonGlobe.com does generate revenue for the paper.

Contrary to what the Globe reported, the Herald does have paid digital subscriptions – to its electronic edition, which charges even for home subscribers.

Whatever. Both papers are in trouble.