DIGGING DATA ON THE ECONOMIST

For the second time in two months The Economist has voluntarily suspended distribution of its print edition to Thailand As the publisher said in an email to its subscribers on Saturday morning this is: ".. in light of our coverage relating to the Thai monarchy."
So how many copies are involved?
According to the latest independently audited circulation report a total of 6,528 copies of The Economist were sold in Thailand, roughly five per cent of the 130,117 total circulation of the entire Asia Pacific edition. Using statistics in the report one could estimate around 3,500 of those copies were destined for subscribers. A total of 77 per cent were actively purchased, meaning money changed hands and were not part of any free copy agreement.
Until as recently as December copies were being distributed by one Bangkok-based company. My understanding from industry sources is subscriber copies were being handled directly by the publisher from outside Thailand while a new distributing agreement was being negotiated.
What's so far different about this week's story is that the 'questionable' article remain accessible from within Thailand while the two responsible for the December non-distribution remain censored.