Metro (British newspaper)

Metro

Cover on 2 March 2010
Type Freesheet
Format Tabloid
Owner(s) DMG Media
Editor Ted Young
Founded 1999
Political alignment Conservative
Headquarters Kensington, London
Circulation 1,335,000
ISSN 1469-6215
OCLC number 225917520
Website www.metro.co.uk

The Metro is a free newspaper published in tabloid format in the United Kingdom by DMG Media (part of Daily Mail and General Trust). It is distributed from Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) on many public-transport services in selected urban centres across the United Kingdom, and at other outlets such as cafes, workplaces, bus stops, etc. Distributors have also been employed to hand out copies to pedestrians.

History

The paper was launched in London in 1999, and can now be found in several UK urban centres, plus some smaller railway stations. Localised editions are produced for Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, and Sheffield.[1] It is part of the same media group as are the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, although, in some areas, Metro operates as a franchise with a local newspaper publisher, rather than as a wholly owned concern.

The Metro concept comes from Sweden. Metro International, a different company, launched in the UK in 1999, and, in Newcastle upon Tyne, this company's paper was distributed on the Tyne and Wear Metro system side by side with the Metro of Associated Newspapers (now DMG Media). After battling alongside the Associated Newspapers' version with the same name, Metro International's Metro changed its name to Morning News. However, Morning News was short-lived, being discontinued shortly afterwards (see Metro International). Metro International have had plans to launch a rivalling free evening newspaper in London.[2]

Similarly, Rupert Murdoch is said to have regretted missing the opportunity of launching his own London paper. However, News International, a UK subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corporation, launched a London-based newspaper in 2006 called The London Paper, using funding from Liam McDonald.[3] This was closed on 18 September 2009.

Content

The newspaper was designed to be read on the commute, containing none of the actual content that would feature in non-tabloid newspapers, such as The Times or The Guardian.

The features section contains a mix of articles on travel, homes, style, health, science, and celebrity life, as well as extensive arts coverage and entertainment listings. The puzzles page contains the cartoon strips Nemi (by Lise Myhre), 118 118 (by Clive Collins) (advertisement comic strip), and This Life (by Rick Brookes); astrology readings by Nikki Harper; and Sudoku. Previously, it featured a crossword (in place of the Sudoku puzzle), David J. Bodycombe's Think Tank brainteasers, and a Judge Dredd strip. Since November 2011, it has featured the cartoon strip Learn to Speak Cat (by Anthony Smith).

On 8 July 2009, the online version of Metro was merged with London Lite.[4]

Distribution

A Metro delivery van

In its first five years, it achieved a readership of over 1 million daily readers, making it the UK's fourth largest daily newspaper, after The Sun, the Daily Mail, and the Daily Mirror. In October 2008, its total certified distribution for that month was 1,361,306. It now prints approximately 1.3m copies daily, and officially has some 3.5m readers, as of March 2010.[5] The WAN-IFRA reported its 2010 circulation as 1,335,000.[6]

Metro Herald (Ireland)

The Dublin freesheet Metro Herald was similar in layout and content to its British counterpart, as Associated Metro provides much of the content.[7] Metro Herald was formed by the merging of Metro Ireland with its main competitor, Herald AM (published by Independent News & Media's Evening Herald).

Metro Ireland was launched on 10 October 2005, as was Herald AM. Both titles were loss-making, despite a circulation of 145,000 between them in the Greater Dublin Area. The merger of the two titles faced scrutiny by the Competition Authority as the resulting match up drew together IN&M (publishers of the Irish Independent) and The Irish Times (the two Dublin-based broadsheets).[8] On 2 July 2009, it was announced that the two freesheets were to merge,[9] and by 2010 this merger was complete.[10] Publication ceased in December 2014.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Metro – our editorial policy, who we are and how to work for us|Metro News
  2. ↑ Media Guardian, 3 April 2003 "Desmond in Swedish talks over London freesheet"
  3. ↑ Liam McDonald Funds Metro, Midworth Associated with Deal, Rory McFlanagan, Redditch Media Centre
  4. ↑ "London Lite — home of the best London news and celebrity gossip". Metro. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  5. ↑ Home|dmg media
  6. ↑ Andra Leurdijk; Mijke Slot; Ottilie Nieuwenhuis (2012). "The Newspaper Publishing Industry" (TECHNICAL REPORT). EU Commission. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Media Guardian, 10 October 2005 "Battle commences over Dublin freesheets"
  8. ↑ Ciarán Hancock Irish Times, 6 March 2009 "Rivals 'Herald AM' and 'Metro' in merger talks"
  9. ↑ Oliver Luft (2 July 2009). "Rival Dublin freesheets Herald AM and Metro Ireland to merge". Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  10. ↑ Metro Herald

External links