Forum Topic

Evening Standard to Go Weekly

Really sad news although hardly surprising, as you almost never see anyone on the Tube reading it these days. It may have been in a long and steady decline but every now and then it did publish a decently researched original article.From what I hear the residual weekly copy will have a limited print run and go the way of other local newspapers in that it is primarily a way for the owners to harness public notice revenue.Quite what the role of Evgeny Lebedev is in all this is hard to fathom but it is probably the case that the paper's declining ability to influence public opinion made his backers less willing to continue funding it.

Felicity Caborn ● 270d12 Comments

That's very commendable and it is imperative that people do that to keep up a high standard of reporting. However, the revenues newspapers get from their digital operations is still below that for print in most cases despite the sharp fall in distribution. We are already seeing the effect of this in the shallowness of much of the reporting on this election campaign.

Felicity Caborn ● 265d

I pay for my digital access to my newspaper of choice, Felicity, so they get plenty of revenue that way.

Susan Kelly ● 269d

Susan, while you are in the majority switching to digital versions of newspapers it must be remembered that the work of the journalists is usually cross subsidised by the revenue the print operation brings in even if this is much less than it used to be.

Felicity Caborn ● 269d

Shame but inevitable.  Will have to plan more to keep myself entertained on tube journeys

Claire Moran ● 270d

The paper went downhill the day it went free and got rid of all its jounos. Infact ive never read the standard since the week it became free. Was such a good paper back in the 80s with the west end final being a dam good read.

Julian Pavey ● 270d

I have had my newspapers digitally for some 15 years. I shall no more miss 'real' ones than I miss men coming round at dusk to light the gas lamps.

Susan Kelly ● 270d

The tube used to be full of daily free papers, at one point (c.2007/2008)there was an additional two, both now defunct - the London Paper and London Lite. This added to the Standard, Metro, City AM..

James Wright ● 270d

Losing £85million in just a few years is never sustainable. It’s been pretty rubbish for years, with Lebedev often more interested in self promotion than news reporting. It certainly wasn’t holding any political types to account, which is the real role of the free press.At least we still have the Metro to line the cat litter tray.

Simon Hayes ● 270d

By chance I have just pick up a copy.First impression is that it is quite a lot better than the on line offering. Hunt gets a double page spread which I can't be bothered to read and Abbott about two and a half columns. Interestingly about the same space devoted to "how to keep you feet cool in the heat"(dry in the rain may have been more relevant)Then an full page guide covering  "The chic summer hat guide". Who knew.Good to see they have sold a lot of advertising space but at what price who knows. Not BRAD figures I suspect.In summary, better than I thought.

Adrian Irving ● 270d

The "Standard" has become a part of our lives for nearly 200 years so its oncoming demise is sad indeed.It went downhill in March 2017 when George Osborne, sore from the referendum result took it over.Its content is mainly full of left wing journals which is fine for some and good sport.

Denis Ian Fox ● 270d

I'm surprised it struggled on for so long having lost its way a long time ago.I haven't seen a paper copy for awhile but I do look at the online version the content of which seems to be aimed at an elitist market with articles focused things like the best hotel in Cornwall, the finest restaurant in Soho, where to buy couture evening gowns and so on.Why, when I very much doubt that demographic even give the paper a second glance. Back in the day it used to be brilliant but sadly failed to effectively respond to the free London dailies and has been in decline ever since.

Adrian Irving ● 270d

Regettable news, but IMHO the daily print edition never recovered from when it shrank in page numbers during Covid. Makes you wonder how long the daily Metro will continue to be available.

Richard Greenhough ● 270d