Will the London "Evening Standard" survive, and is the future of newspapers at risk with all the free titles?

Question

Metro, The Londonpaper, and many more on the way....have paid for newspapers had their day? Are we heading for free titles whose editorial will be dictated by advertisers?

Answer 1

I used to think that the Evening Standard was a good paper till recently. I have never read such rubbish reporting of the Natascha Kampusch case - where they got their "information" from I do not know. Absolute junk. Therefore, if it did not survive in its present form, I really wouldn't care.

Although the free papers are popular, I personally don't know anyone who has given up buying a paper because they can get a freebie instead - there is not the same amount of information.

Answer 2

The Evening Standard will survive - but not in its present form.

A while back Murdoch saw that the free paper distributed in the morning (Metro) was very popular and planned his own free paper (Londonpaper) to take on the Evening Standard in the evenings. The Evening Standard is owned by Associated Newspapers - they saw the way the market is going and launched their own free paper (London Lite) to help them hang onto some of the market.

The plan with the Evening Standard is to take it upmarket - flog it to rich bankers who don't care if it costs a £1 for each copy. The price rise to 50p was only the first stage - in a few years it will cost a lot more. You'll be paying for popular columnists, indepth business news, analysis reports - more expensive journalism that will not be carried in the free papers.

Answer 3

I write for a free paper in the West Country. We are getting more circulation and advertisers. However any Editor worth his salt would not be dictated to be the advertisers. If the paper is good enough the public will pick it up and advertisers will pay for it. What will probable happen is the Evening Standard will buy up the free papers.

Answer 4

You're absolutely correct - I think. The Evening Standard now costs 50p; why would you pay that when you can get similar editorial content for free.

Furthermore, if the only revenue stream is through advertisers, inevitably, the paper's editorial content will be dictated by its sponsors

Answer 5

I really hope so, the Evening Standard is a dirty rag from the stable of the daily mail. I've picked up the londonpaper a few times now and I really like it - does just the job for the journey home. Quite apart from anything else, the Evening Standard just put their price up 25% from 40p to 50p which is a curious decision given that these free papers are doing the rounds.