The London Paper
Circulation approx. 500,000 (July 2009)[1] | | |
Website | www |
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The London Paper (stylised as thelondonpaper) was a
Background
The paper was the first
The week before The London Paper was first published,
Format
The paper, edited by Stefano Hatfield, was targeted towards young readers, with emphasis on celebrity and more light hearted news, there was little analysis of news stories and the paper used many images and much colour. As a consequence of the launch of The London Paper as well as Associated Newspaper's own London Lite, the
Distribution
It held the contract for evening free distribution in London
Criticism
The paper was criticised for containing too much pointless celebrity news in the guise of serious news articles, such as a new Murdoch-backed music website and The Simpsons Movie. Its television listings also included Sky One alongside the five analogue terrestrial channels.
Like the other free London dailies, The London Paper was generally discarded by its readers as soon as they had finished. The use of resources to print something with such a short lifespan was criticised on environmental grounds. Westminster City Council estimated that free newspapers made up a quarter of all rubbish in the West End,[2] much of which went un-recycled, although some stations have positioned recycling bins at entrances and exits specifically for the purpose of recycling free papers. The London Paper recycled many of their papers into wire bound A4 notepads
Closure
But what’s remarkable about this current escapade is that Murdoch is actually proposing to sell a product that people have previously failed to even give away for free.
On 20 August 2009, it was announced that The London Paper would cease publication due to consistent losses. [1]
On 18 September 2009, News International decided to cease publication of the newspaper, having its final print-run after it recorded pre-tax losses of £12.9m in its second year.[4][5]
On 13 August 2010, Rupert Murdoch announced that
References
- ^ a b "Closure looms for London paper". BBC News. BBC Online. 20 August 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2010.
- ^ Newswatch » As waste piles up, London freesheets talk a lot of garbage Archived 2011-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Carr, Paul (15 August 2010). "Murdoch's New iPaper: One Last Tragic Roll Of The Digital Dice". TechCrunch. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- ^ Final edition of The London Paper, BBC News, 18 September 2009
- ^ Brook, Stephen (20 August 2009). "The London Paper set to close". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- ^ C. Chmielewski, Dawn (13 August 2010). "News Corp. plans national newspaper for tablet computers and cellphones". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
External links
- thelondonpaper.com Official website for The London Paper (now redirects to The Times website).
- London's free newspapers revealed This Is Local London
- The Guardian, 21 August 2009, The legacy of The London Paper