| Type | Regional free daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Alexander Lebedev, Evgeny Lebedev (74.1%), Daily Mail and General Trust (24.9%)[1] |
| Editor | Geordie Greig |
| Founded | 1827 |
| Headquarters | Northcliffe House, Derry Street, Kensington |
| Circulation | 263,095 (paid, December 2006)[2] 600,000+ (free, October 2009)[3] |
| Official website | http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ |
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London finance. In October 2009 the paper ended a 180-year history of paid circulation and became a free giveaway, doubling its circulation as part of a change in its business plan.[3]
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The newspaper was founded by the barrister, Stanley Lees Giffard, on 21 May 1827, as the Standard.[4] The early owner of the paper was Charles Baldwin. Under the ownership of James Johnstone The Standard became a morning paper from 29 June 1857, with The Evening Standard being published from 11 June 1859. The Standard gained eminence for its detailed foreign news, with its reporting events of the American Civil War (1861–1865), of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, all contributing to a rise in circulation.[5]
The Evening Standard has sponsored the annual Evening Standard Theatre Awards since the 1950s. The newspaper has also awarded the annual Evening Standard Pub of the Year (discontinued 2007) and the Evening Standard British Film Awards since the 1970s.
On 21 January 2009 Russian businessman and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev and son Evgeny Lebedev, now the paper's chairman, agreed to purchase 75.1% of the paper for £1.[6][7] The paper was formerly published by Associated Newspapers Ltd., a division of Daily Mail and General Trust. Associated Newspapers publishes the national papers Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, and Metro, a free morning paper distributed Monday-Friday at London stations. It also published London Lite, a free evening paper, now defunct.
In November 2009 the Evening Standard announced that from 4 January 2010 it was to drop its 'Midday News Extra' edition. This means printing one edition of 600,000 copies, starting at 12:30pm, ending journalists' 3 a.m. starts and the previous deadline of 9am for the first edition. Twenty people were expected to lose their jobs as a result.
Previously there were three editions each weekday, excluding Bank holidays. The first of these, "News Extra", went to print at 10:00am and was available around 11:00am in central London, slightly later in more outlying areas (such as Kent). A second edition "West End Final" went to print at 3:00pm and the "Late Night Final" went to print at 5 p.m. and was available in the central area from about 6 p.m. There was often considerable variation between the editions, particularly with the front page lead and following few pages, including the Londoner's Diary, though features and reviews stayed the same. The page changes are indicated by stars in the bottom left hand corner of each page: two stars for the second edition, three stars for the third.
In May 2009 the paper launched a series of poster ads, each of which prominently featured the word 'Sorry' in the paper's then-masthead font. These ads offered various apologies for past editorial approaches, such as 'Sorry for losing touch'.[8] None of the posters mentioned the Evening Standard by name, although they featured the paper's Eros logo. Ex-editor Veronica Wadley criticised the "Pravda-style" campaign saying it humiliated the paper's staff and insulted its readers.[9] The campaign was designed by McCann Erickson.
On 11 May 2009 the paper relaunched as the London Evening Standard, with a new layout and masthead. The paper marked the relaunch by giving away 650,000 free copies on the day.[10]
After a long history of paid circulation, on 12 October 2009 the Standard became a free newspaper,[3][11] with free circulation limited to central London. In February 2010, a paid-for circulation version became available in suburban areas of London for 20p.[12][13][14] The newspaper won the Media Brand of the Year and the Grand Prix Gold awards at the Media Week awards in October 2010.[15] The judges said, "[the Standard has] quite simply ... stunned the market. Not just for the act of going free, but because editorial quality has been maintained, circulation has almost trebled and advertisers have responded favourably. Here is a media brand restored to health."[15] The Standard also won the daily newspaper of the year award at the London Press Club Press Awards in May 2011.[16]
The current editor of the Standard is Geordie Greig. Veronica Wadley was the paper's editor for seven years, from 2002 to 2 February 2009. Max Hastings was editor from 1996 until he retired in 2002.
Although, under Associated Newspaper's ownership, the Standard shared the same Editor in Chief, Paul Dacre, as the Daily Mail, it maintained a quite different style from the latter's "middle England" outlook, in order to appeal to its local, more cosmopolitan readership.
The Evening Standard, although a regional newspaper for London, also covers national and international news, though with an emphasis on London-centred news (especially in its features pages), covering building developments, property prices, traffic schemes, politics, the congestion charge and, in the Londoner's Diary page, gossip on the social scene. It also occasionally runs campaigns centred around local issues that national newspapers do not cover in detail.
It has a tradition of providing quality arts coverage, and is noted for its visual art critic, Brian Sewell, more recently also a television personality, who is renowned for his outspoken dismissal of Britart and the Turner Prize. This accords with the general readership, but was so unpopular with leading figures in the art world that they signed a letter demanding his dismissal (he is still there).
Its headline writers have been accused of having a "doom-and-gloom" agenda.[17]
During the 2008 London mayoral election the Evening Standard—and particularly its correspondent Andrew Gilligan—published articles in support of Conservative candidate Boris Johnson, including frequent front-page headlines condemning Ken Livingstone. This included the headline, "Suicide bomb backer runs Ken's campaign!"[18]
On 5 May 2010, the Standard stated in an editorial that having supported Labour under Tony Blair, the paper would be supporting David Cameron and the Conservatives in the General Election, saying that "the Conservatives are ready for power: they look like a government in waiting."[19]
On 14 December 2004 Associated Newspapers launched a freesheet edition of the Evening Standard called Standard Lite to help boost circulation. This had 48 pages, compared with about 80 in the main paper, which also had a supplement on most days.
In August 2006 the freesheet was relaunched as London Lite. It was designed to be especially attractive to younger female readers, and featured a wide range of lifestyle articles, but less news and business news than the main paper. It was initially only available between 11.30am and 2.30pm at Evening Standard vendors and in the central area, but later became available in the evening from its street distributors. With the sale of the Evening Standard, but not the London Lite, to Alexander Lebedev on 21 January 2009, the ownership links between the Standard and the Lite were broken.
On Fridays the Evening Standard includes a free glossy lifestyle magazine, ES. This has moved from more general articles to concentrate on glamour, with features on the rich, powerful and famous. On Wednesdays, readers can pick up a free copy of the Homes & Property supplement, edited by Janice Morley, which includes London property listings as well as articles from lifestyle journalists including Barbara Chandler, Katie Law and Alison Cork.
An entertainment guide supplement Metro Life (previously called Hot Tickets) was launched in September 2002. This was a what's on guide with listings of cinemas and theatres in and around London, and was given away on Thursdays. It was discontinued on 1 September 2005.
The paper also supplies occasional CDs and DVDs for promotions. It also give Londoners a chance to win exclusive tickets to film premieres and sports tournament tickets, such as the Wimbledon Ladies Singles Final.
The Evening Standard Black Book is a list of London's 1000 most influential people in 2008.
The newspaper's This Is London website carries some of the stories from the Evening Standard and promotions, reviews and competitions. It also includes a number of blogs by Evening Standard writers, such as restaurant critic Charles Campion, theatre critic Kieron Quirke and music critic David Smyth. A separate website contains images of each page of the print edition (two versions) and supplements.
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