London Evening Standard sells its editorial independence to Uber, Google and others - for 3 million

[T_i_B]

For all the bluster about George Osborne occasionally attacking the government over their idiotic policies on leaving the EU, it is worth remembering that the London Evening Standard is a free newspaper, and "churnalism" is very prevalent with free magazines and newpapers.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/james-cusick/george-osborne-s-london-evening-standard-promises-positive-news-coverage-to-uber-goo

London’s Evening Standard newspaper, edited by the former chancellor George Osborne, has agreed a £3 million deal with six leading commercial companies, including Google and Uber, promising them “money-can’t-buy” positive news and “favourable” comment coverage, openDemocracy can reveal.

The project, called London 2020, is being directed by Osborne. It effectively sweeps away the conventional ethical divide between news and advertising inside the Standard – and is set to include “favourable” news coverage of the firms involved, with readers unable to differentiate between "news" that is paid-for and other commercially-branded content.

Leading companies, most operating global businesses, were given detailed sales presentations by Evening Standard executives at the newspaper’s west London offices in an effort to sign them up to the lucrative deal.

Among those that have paid half a million pounds each to be involved are international taxi-app firm Uber, which is facing an imminent court appeal against the decision to cancel its licence to operate in London. The Evening Standard has previously come under fire for not declaring Osborne’s £650,000-a-year part time job with the fund managers BlackRock, who hold a £500m stake in Uber.

[OnDoutside]

1. There was always something so London about buying the ES. It's now owned by a

Russian oligarch, or was, and he made it a freesheet.

[T_i_B]

2. Yes, it actually used to be a pretty good newspaper

It went downhill a little over 10 years ago, then was brought by Evgeny Lebedev. He turned it into a freesheet to compete with the likes of Metro.

I have to agree that buying a copy of the Standard to read on the tube or train used to be a little part of visiting London for me. But those days have gone.

[RandomAccess]

3. Hmmm, well --

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Said (or something like it) by many people, but probably not Orwell:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/01/20/news-suppress/

[RandomAccess]

5. Hah! Many people indeed

Thanks.

I think.

[T_i_B]

6. Evening Standard to record 10m loss

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-44537728

The Evening Standard will post a loss of £10m for the year ending in September 2017, a reversal in fortunes for London's paper that poses a big headache for its owner, Evgeny Lebedev.

The Standard's loss - £9.98m - comes after a recorded profit of £2.2m in the previous year, representing a £12m swing into the red.

The causes of the sharp financial deterioration reflect both long-term, structural changes in the newspaper industry - above all the downward pressure on print display advertising - and specific issues arising in that financial year.

Those exceptional circumstances include a London food festival which was, commercially at least, and allowing for sub-optimal weather, an expensive failure. The weakness of sterling pushed paper costs up for all newspapers. And the slowdown in London's property market always augurs ill for the Standard, whose Homes & Property supplement is a key driver of revenue.