The Standard of London’s Evenings
October 15th, 2009 by Marita Upeniece 
There has been a lot written about The London Evening Standard recently (full history on followthemedia), so here’s a more light-hearted look at the pros and cons of the newspaper going free. Through Londoner’s eyes with PR glasses if you wish.
Pro
You can pick up both the Evening Standard and London Lite and play the game ‘spot the difference’ with the main news stories. Don’t look at the business page though – there are none!
Con
After a short three-week piece, two bright jackets are yet again vying for sidewalk inches and obstructing our journey home.
Pro
They probably won’t be there for long. The word on the street is now that thelondonpaper is gone Lite will soon follow and the Evening Standard will rule London’s streets once again (although from another perspective that’s probably a con).
Con
An unsightly mess of 600,000 more newspapers littering London’s streets, trains, buses and the tube.
Pro
Watching a certain type of person staring at the ceiling on the tube as they will not read their evening paper now that it’s devalued and stuffed in your face every evening like a freesheet.
Con
The spy who loves media now decides what we read.
Pro
His team has had the great idea to feature anecdotes on the 2nd page to celebrate the paper going free: “Public figures reveal the free things in life they love the most. Gordon Brown says, the NHS…”
The Evening Standard is the first quality newspaper to go free, possibly suicide for an already ailing paper or perhaps a very smart move into a new territory which others will follow, and if they do, is this a pro or a con for the PR industry?
