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Freesheet London Weekly is here

Posted by Maria Conde on February 5, 2010 at 5:30 PM

Following a week of much speculation over whether the new London freesheet existed, and if so, if it would launch at all, the London Weekly is finally here, says Guardian.

The launch of the new freesheet was announced in November of last year, with its website opening in December. Executives at the Global Publishing Group, the company responsible for the publication, initially announced the freesheet would launch on February 1st, but later pushed back the start date to February 5th.

London Evening Standard readership rises

Posted by Maria Conde on February 4, 2010 at 5:25 PM

The London Evening Standard's readership has gone from 556,000 in April to September to 1.37 million in the last three months of 2009, Stephen Brook from Guardian reports.

These positive readership figures follow the newspaper going free in October of last year and more than doubling its circulation to 600,000 copies in the process. The London Evening Standard was bought by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebeveb in 2008, and his decision to drop the paper's 50p cover price was made in the hope that boosted circulation would increase advertising enough to make up for the lost revenue of having no cover price. His move towards the freesheet format prompted speculation that other London quality newspapers may drop their cover price as well.

Freesheet launch: All quiet on the London Weekly front

Posted by Helena Humphrey on February 3, 2010 at 12:32 PM

Back in November the newspaper rumour mill whispered word of an all-new freesheet to grace the streets of the capital, The London Weekly. By December, marketing manager Paul Morris announced a launch date of the 1 February and its partnership website went live.

Despite a rather unpolished online offering (from a company that claims to have £10.5 million in the kitty), displaying few regular news updates written by just two users and registered from a German server, Morris last week maintained that the 250,000 copies of the freesheet would be handed out every Friday and Saturday - although the start date would now be delayed until the 5 February.

New London freesheet announces launch date

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 27, 2010 at 12:13 PM

The launch of a new London freesheet, the London Weekly, was announced in November of last year, with its website going live on 20 December. Executives at the Global Publishing Group, the company behind the title, have now confirmed an official launch date of 5 February for the paper itself, the Guardian has reported.

The London Weekly hopes to fill the gap left by the closure of the capital's previous freesheets, the London Paper and the London Lite, with a proposed distribution of 250,000 copies every Friday and Saturday.

Guardian's Alan Rusbridger on why his paper will remain free online

Posted by Emma Heald on January 26, 2010 at 12:06 PM

Editor of the Guardian Alan Rusbridger made clear his feelings on paywalls and the growing importance of social media during the 2010 Hugh Cudlipp lecture yesterday, entitled 'Does journalism exist?' The Guardian reproduced the text of the lecture here.

Hugh Cudlipp was an editor at the Daily Mirror from the early 1950s to early 1970s,
a period in which, as Rusbridger pointed out, newspaper editors' key challenge was producing good editorial content, rather than trying to come up with a new business model, which is a top issue confronting all editors now.

More freesheet speculation as Lebedev's purchase of The Independent more likely

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 20, 2010 at 12:41 PM

Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev's purchase of The Independent is likely to go ahead, although a month later than planned, according to Media Week.

The two parties are in exclusive talks with a February 15 deadline, which is likely to be extended to mid-March as some aspects are yet to be agreed upon.

Printing contract issues are still being resolved. The Independent holds a long-running printing contract with Trinity Mirror.

Another point of discussion is that Lebedev is considering dropping The Independent's £1 cover price and making the paper free, according to unnamed sources cited by Media Week.

Trinity Mirror rings in New Year with number of changes to west London weeklies

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 7, 2010 at 5:44 PM

Trinity Mirror has clearly decided that the new year is the right time for a shake- up, making significant changes to its west London titles: As of the 15th of January, weekly Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle will no longer carry its 60p price tag and The London Informer is set to shut up shop altogether. As a result, circulation of the Fulham and Hammersmith Chronicle, which currently stands at 1,257, will increase to a considerable 72,000.

Trinity Mirror employees can breathe a sigh or relief, as the publisher has underlined that the restructuring of its operations will not result in job cuts.

Latest Evening Standard job cuts, a few cuts too many?

Posted by Helena Humphrey on January 7, 2010 at 3:54 PM

At the beginning of December, the London Evening Standard made a number of significant job cuts. Sub-editors were the worst hit. The move came as little surprise owing to the fact that the role of sub-editors has been long debated, particularly in our current harsh financial climate. Indeed, media commentator Roy Greenslade deemed them "a layer in the publishing industry, which can be "eliminated".

Free newspaper launches in Dublin

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 7, 2010 at 1:15 PM

Morning freesheet Metro Herald, created by the merger of freesheets Herald AM and Metro Ireland, has launched in Dublin today.

The merger, announced last summer, was widely expected as both papers were believed to be running at a loss, according to The Guardian.

Manchester Evening News cuts back on free copies

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on January 5, 2010 at 11:19 AM

After almost four years as a freesheet, the Manchester Evening News will begin charging for copies of its newspaper distributed in the city centre, at least four days a week.

In April 2006, the paper became part-free, part paid-for. In the Manchester city centre, 50,000 copies a day were given away, while those in suburbs further out were still sold to readers. The planned changes will mean that from Monday to Wednesday and on Saturdays, all copies of the newspaper will be paid for, while on Thursdays and Fridays, its dual paid/free model will remain.

Financial freesheet strikes a deal to share content

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 17, 2009 at 11:37 AM

London financial freesheet City A.M. will relaunch its website and gain access to more news stories and resources under a deal with online financial services company Interactive Investor.

The deal will see Interactive Investor managing City A.M.'s website. The two companies, with a total pool of 36 journalists, will share news and resources. Their combined stories will also be published on the Interactive Investor website.

Evening Standard's distribution just misses target

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 14, 2009 at 11:14 AM

Circulation of London freesheet the London Evening Standard is slightly under target, according to November figures from the UK Audit Bureau of Circulations.

In the first full month since it dropped its 50 pence cover price and went free, the newspaper's recorded distribution was 596,100 copies. Its target was 600,000 copies.

According to the Evening Standard's own figures, though, its distribution was 618,837. The extra copies have not yet been confirmed by the auditing group because of the paper's complex distribution method.

The London Weekly: will it work?

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on December 9, 2009 at 2:49 PM

Marketing and advertising executives have weighed in on the viability of new London freesheet The London Weekly, Brand Republic reports.

And the response is far from positive. Of the four asked for comment, three said they thought the paper would "maybe" be viable, and another said it would not.

UPDATE: London Weekly to launch Feb 1

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 2, 2009 at 1:36 PM

The London Weekly has confirmed it will launch on 1 February next year with a starting budget of £10.5m.

The sum, which was raised by Global Publishing Group, a partnership of five unnamed investors, is considerably more than the £5.5m that was speculated when the paper's plans were first announced earlier this week.

London Evening Standard might boost circulation

Posted by Jennifer Lush on December 2, 2009 at 12:55 PM

Responding to industry speculation, the London Evening Standard has announced that is considering increasing its distribution numbers, the Guardian is reporting.

After dropping its 50p cover price in mid-October to go free, the paper more than doubled its circulation from 250, 000 to 600, 000 copies a day. Doug Willis, the Evening Standard's managing editor said that the paper had the potential to boost its free distribution to 800, 000 or 1 million copies by late 2010.

Rumours of a new London freesheet

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 30, 2009 at 12:38 PM

As the London Evening Standard settles into its decision to drop its 50 pence cover price and go free, the Guardian is reporting that yet another freesheet is expected to hit the streets of London.

Directly competing with the Evening Standard, the London Weekly will distribute 250,000 copies twice weekly on Fridays and Saturdays outside rail and tube stations, according to a media pack released for potential advertisers.

Evening Standard drops midday edition

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 27, 2009 at 12:27 PM

The London Evening Standard will cut its midday News Extra edition in order to focus on improving the currency and quality of its evening edition, the Guardian is reporting.

The move will result in 20 job losses and comes shortly after the paper dropped its 50 pence cover price to go free. At the time, editor Geordie Greig said that the switch was necessary if the paper was to survive the harsh financial times and continue printing.

New London freesheet composed of blog-only content

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 23, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Following the recent closures of MediaWeek and London Lite, a new paper is launching in London- though this one has a twist- it's composed entirely of content from blogs. The first of its kind, The Blogpaper is composed solely of content submitted by bloggers.

The Blogpaper also has no editor; instead, the bloggers decide what should be published in the paper edition. Bloggers submit stories and photos to the paper's site and then vote on each other's work. They are responsible for vetting the content and deciding what is high enough quality to deserve publishing. According to co-founder Karl Jo Seilern, this is how the paper plans to continue without an editor. The idea allows for the readers to determine what they would most like to read and for them to monitor the quality of the articles. If the articles are not up to par, they are not voted for by the masses; it's that simple.

Evening Standard saves on distribution costs by going free

Posted by Jennifer Lush on November 18, 2009 at 10:57 AM

Editor of the London Evening Standard, Geordie Grieg, revealed the paper has managed to reduce its distribution costs from 30 pence per copy to 4p since going free, according to the Guardian.

London's major afternoon daily dropped its 50 p cover price in mid-October and went free, a move that has seen the paper's circulation more than double from 250,000 to some 600,000.

Metro US overtakes WaPo in latest circulation figures

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 30, 2009 at 11:05 AM

According to the latest Certified Audit of Circulation report, Metro US, America's leading daily freesheet, has become the 5th largest circulated newspaper in the country, Reuters has reported. In doing so, the publication has overtaken the Washington Post. The latest figures report a circulation of 590,553 daily copies across New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.

Available Monday through Friday and with content varied city by city, Metro US cites young professionals as its target audience, which it clearly meets considering its number one position among the group, according to the 2009 Scarborough Survey. Among all print publications Metro reaches the highest percentage of adults 18-49 years old.

London Lite to become latest freesheet to close

Posted by Emma Heald on October 27, 2009 at 3:32 PM

Associated Newspapers' freesheet the London Lite is to close, reported the Guardian. Its parent company, which is owned by the Daily Mail & General Trust, made the announcement two weeks after the Evening Standard went free and a month after News International's thelondonpaper closed.

Both the London Lite and thelondonpaper, which launched within days of each other in the summer of 2006, had been suffering financially and were making considerable losses earlier this year. The closure of thelondonpaper, in line with owner Rupert Murdoch's opposition to the idea of giving away content, could have meant good news for its rival the London Lite, but it seems that profits did not increase enough, and another free rival emerged, in the form of of the Evening Standard.

Evening Standard starts its life as a freesheet, makes distribution deals

Posted by Emma Heald on October 13, 2009 at 2:11 PM

London's major afternoon daily the Evening Standard dropped its 50 pence cover price and went free yesterday. The paper, 75.1% of which is owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Lebedev (described by the Guardian as 'the spy who loves media), has been a paid-for daily for 182 years. The remaining percentage was retained by the Daily Mail and General Trust.

The move is an attempt to address declines in circulation and distribution will be upped from from 250,000 to around 600,000 in the hope that increased advertising revenue will make up for lost of income from the cover price.

Will Free Evening Standard put out the Lite?

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 5, 2009 at 9:28 AM

Last week's announcement that the London Evening Standard will now literally be given away on the streets of the capital stirred up a fair share of doubt and concern for the future of the title, which editor Grieg attempted to temper with the request: "Can you refer to it as a newspaper and not a freesheet? It has been a newspaper for 182 years and it is not changing," reported the Guardian. However, it also puts into play questions regarding the impact the move will have on other publications too.

In the London Evening Standard's long history, the newspaper has fought off some 14 other rivals. Only three weeks ago Murdoch's freesheet, the London paper, was forced to throw in the towel, and it seems that the London Lite might not be far behind - the city's final afternoon freesheet standing.

London Evening Standard for free

Posted by Nestor Bailly on October 2, 2009 at 12:06 PM

After 180 years as a paid-for publication, the London Evening Standard will become a freely distributed newspaper on the 12th of October.

Owner Alexander Lebedev, who bought a 75% share of the Standard in January, has announced that the 50 pence price of the daily paper will be dropped and issues will be freely distributed in the streets of London. It is expected that the paper's circulation will more than double, from 250,000 to 600,000.

Lebedev is confident that the paper will succeed with this unexpected business model, which comes as quite a surprise as more publishers turn towards paid content and since the closure of the free paper thelondonpaper in September, which many held as marking the end of the free print model, at least in the UK.

"The Standard has been producing exceptional journalism since 1827 and that is not going to change under my ownership. The London Evening Standard is the first leading quality newspaper to go free and I am sure others will follow," Lebedev says.

News Corp's The London Paper to close next month

Posted by Emma Heald on August 24, 2009 at 4:30 PM

News Corp-owned evening freesheet The London Paper is to close next month, it was announced by media mogul Rupert Murdoch's son James, head of News International, the company's international wing. As well as financial motivation, the decision to abandon the free publication echoes Murdoch senior's commitment to charge online for much of the company's content, the Guardian pointed out.

News Corp recently announced substantially fallen profits, and even Murdoch himself has taken a 40% salary cut (taking home $18 million this last year compared to around $30 million the year before.) Hence, the decision to close a paper which lost £12.9 million pre-tax in the year to 29 June 2008 does not seem surprising. Added to this is Murdoch's conviction that news should not be free, and his promise that all News Corp newspapers will charge online within a year. Insisting that consumers should pay for news online while giving it away free in print form appears clearly contradictory. News International's incoming CEO Rebekah Brooks (formerly Wade) is also not a fan of free newspapers, according to the Guardian.

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