Friday 2 October 2009

Will it be lights out for London Lite?

With the Evening Standard going free in London how long will Associated keep London Lite going?
Back in March, I covered a press conference for Press Gazette celebrating 10 years of Metro.
The paper's md Steve Auckland admitted that the recession would probably put back the date Lite was anticipated to make a profit, which had been estimated as five to six years away.
That was without the Standard going free, although Lite has seen off the challenge of thelondonpaper.
Auckland said he was confident that free papers could survive an advertising recession and was proud of the way Metro had changed the image of free papers, once derided as "freesheets".
He said the title had attracted a "lost generation" of young newspaper readers and transformed the media landscape."Up until then, the perception of frees was as a bit of a rag, not sexy and struggling to get young urbanites," he added.
Auckland said Metro had won over a sceptical ad industry since launch and paved the way for more quality frees, such as Shortlist and London Lite, but I don't think he imagined the Evening Standard would follow the trend to go free.
Roy Greenslade on MediaGuardian says: "Now, unless Associated dramatically closes the Lite, people will have a proper choice, between a Standard that publishes journalism of quality, and a Lite that skims the surface of the daily news agenda and concentrates on lighter material.
"It will be fascinating to see how people react to being given a "real" paper for nothing.
I know the journalists on the Standard are split. Some are genuinely excited, believing it's a natural step. Some believe it will devalue their work and represents a journalistic nadir.
There is no earthly reason, however, why a quality free daily should not work. I seem to recall once urging The Independent to take that step.
"Whatever the case, it's another sign of the revolutionary times in newspapers. It's no good crying about it. If we want to get good journalism to people we have to innovate."
The Evening Standard explains its reasons here for going free.

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