London Evening Standard To Close Daily Newspaper And Launch New Weekly
London’s Evening Standard has announced plans to shut its daily newspaper and replace it with a weekly outlet, bringing an end to almost 200 years of publication in the capital.
The newspaper said it has been hit hard by the introduction of wifi on the London Underground, a shortage of commuters owing to the growth of working from home and changing consumer habits.
The Standard lost £84.5m in the past six years, according to its accounts, and is reliant on funding from its part-owner Evgeny Lebedev. Its other shareholders include a bank with close links to the Saudi government. Industry sources suggested Lebedev had been willing to consider selling the outlet in recent years but no buyer was found.
Paul Kanareck, the newspaper’s chair, told staff on Wednesday morning: “The substantial losses accruing from the current operations are not sustainable. Therefore, we plan to consult with our staff and external stakeholders to reshape the business, return to profitability and secure the long-term future of the number one news brand in London.”
He said the company planned to launch “a brand new weekly newspaper later this year and consider options for retaining ES Magazine with reduced frequency”, with the focus shifting to increasing its website audience.
Kanareck said there would be an “impact on staffing”, with journalists bracing themselves for further job losses on top of years of redundancies, while design staff on the print edition are expected to be hit hard. Distributors who hand out the newspaper across London are also likely to be out of work, and billboards outside railway stations advertising the day’s headline will stand empty on most days.
He suggested there would be a change in focus for the weekly outlet: “A proposed new weekly newspaper would replace the daily publication, allowing for more in-depth analysis of the issues that matter to Londoners, and serve them in a new and relevant way by celebrating the best London has to offer, from entertainment guides to lifestyle, sports, culture and news and the drumbeat of life in the world’s greatest city.”
Closing the Evening Standard will mean that for the first time in centuries, Londoners will have no general-interest daily print newspaper.
