Ok, so this doesn't work for everyone, but I think TheLondonPaper beats London Lite. It has done a better job of aggregating celebrity gossip and is just superficial enough to last you 5 stops on the 'tube'. For non-London readers TheLondonPaper is an early evening freesheet for commuters.
However I have heard today that News International is to close TheLondonPaper. News International have cited the downturn in advertising and the resulting huge losses as being the key cause of the paper’s demise.
So what is happening over at News Int? Murdoch also announced that they plan to charge for access to all his news websites, including The Times, The Sun and the News of the World. So they just can't rely on ad revenues any more, and they need to maintain those lifestyles don't they?
I just can't see anyone really paying for 'news'. News is everywhere - even twitter is news. Sure, FT.com can charge but there you are paying for analysis, not news.
So I suppose there will be more consolidation, lower operating costs, sharing of printing and distribution, and further and further decline over time. The big guns of WSJ, FT have scale but will still have to tier their paid content services and build out social networking features and UGC.
Either way, on any given day, I check the news twice a day on my pre-built screens (where I have chosen what will appear where), but on Sunday morning, I love reading the newspaper; I read the bits I want (news, culture, business, sport) and disgard the rest - that way it feels more like a magazine but more topical...maybe there's something in that?
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