London model may spread...

A Newspaper Free-for-all Looms in London

In a bid to lure young, affluent urbanites from the Net, two media titans have launched rival free papers in an already overcrowded market

On Sept. 4, an army of 700 purple-clad workers took to the streets of London armed with the latest offering from Rupert Murdoch's News International: a free afternoon newspaper called thelondonpaper.

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‘If it’s free versus 50 pence, then free is going to win’

On day one of London's free newspaper battle residents of the capital were broadly upbeat about Associated Newspapers' new daily London Lite.

Press Gazette talked to a cross-section of Londoners on Wednesday lunchtime.

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One year on and business is booming at City A.M.

As London free business daily City A.M. celebrated its first birthday this week, its bosses said it was on course to move into profit this year, and they hinted that further launches outside London were now a possibility.

Editor David Parsley, who quit as business editor of the Daily Express to lead the new venture, said he believed the future of the business was now assured.

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The new newspapers

In recent days London has acquired two new evening freesheets: London Lite (previously called Standard Lite, a chopped-down freebie version of the early Evening Standard edition) and Thelondonpaper. Both are handed out by an assorted troupe of corner hawkers, all of whom seem to have been recruited on the basis of having very long arms and an ability to make Frisbee-throwing motions into a crowd of passersby at least 60 times a minute. The two new rags join the free morning paper Metro (which seems to be a cut-down freebie version of yesterday’s Evening Standard).

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