The Gonedependent?

[Borracho]

Uh-oh . . .

[Ray de Galles]

The Gonedependent?

It isn't, are you?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

The Gonedependent?

The "i" is actually a good read. Nice layout, good content. I admit I only tend to read it in London hotels, mind, where it seems to be the free paper of choice. I don't recall ever buying it.

[N est à?]

The Gonedependent?

Nice pic of Evgeny Lebedev about to lower James Bond into a piranha tank, there.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The Gonedependent?

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: The "i" is actually a good read. Nice layout

...unlike its online edition.

[johnr]

The Gonedependent?

Great shame, for me at least; if I buy a paper (increasingly rare over the last year or so, and I cancelled my subscription when they supported the coalition at the last GE) it has, since its launch, been the Indy. I often don't agree with its columnists, nor its editorials, but I think the writing has been consistently better than most.

I can't bear the smug liberal middle-class bias/outlook of the Guardian, so my next train journey will be taken up with the i, if it stays as it is, and a book (back to that!).

I guess, like me, too many people stopped paying £1.60 a day for something that they can largely get online.

[E10 Rifle]

The Gonedependent?

Feel very sad and angry about this, as a reader as well as former freelancer there. It's produced some very good journalism, including photography (and newspaper design) over the years, but it's been run down for a long time. The logic of this move seems all over the shop too. The i's content is all provided by Indy journalists, so if that's being hived off to the notoriously rapacious (and shit) Johnston Press, will its print journalists - or those the remain - go with it? In which case, who provides the sparkling digital content that will apparently make the Indy becoming a major global digital player in a competitive, crowded and decidedly non-lucrative market?

Does Lebvedev know, or care? Probably not. An unpleasant bully.

[johnr]

The Gonedependent?

Good analysis E10. I'm pretty sure Lebedev doesn't know what he's doing, but I guess it's always been a lot to ask for for somebody to altruistically pour their dosh into a never-going-to-make-money paper. He obviously does it so that he can nob about with the supposedly great and good, and feel better about himself when he gets his fizzog in the paper every time they cover their charity appeal, but they've been struggling for years, and have had some dreadful owners during that time.

It's been on its uppers for so long that it's a wonder it's lasted so long.

[Flynnie]

The Gonedependent?

johnr wrote: Great shame, for me at least; if I buy a paper (increasingly rare over the last year or so, and I cancelled my subscription when they supported the coalition at the last GE) it has, since its launch, been the Indy. I often don't agree with its columnists, nor its editorials, but I think the writing has been consistently better than most.

I can't bear the smug liberal middle-class bias/outlook of the Guardian, so my next train journey will be taken up with the i, if it stays as it is, and a book (back to that!).

I guess, like me, too many people stopped paying £1.60 a day for something that they can largely get online.

From the same source. For free.

What the fuck were newspapers thinking?

[johnr]

The Gonedependent?

Overall, they were/are trying to adapt to a new technology, but had/have no idea how to make it profitable. Murdoch is/was convinced of the need for a paywall, but I think has recently brought it down regarding The Sun.

[ursus arctos]

The Gonedependent?

Now official.

Final editions end of March

[Benjm]

The Gonedependent?

It's a shame but I can't remember the last time that I bought the full priced daily or Sunday. The online future sounds more like an attempt to minimise loss of face in the short term. As suggested above, it is hard to see how the i will maintain its quality or appeal without the parent titles to feed off.

For those concerned about the welfare of Lebedev's ego, the Standard should offer sufficient stroking opportunities. I imagine that he has a fairly hobbes-ian view of the relative merits of London and not-London anyway.

I saw Lebedev at the theatre not so long ago. Peculiar looking fellow, even by the odd standards of what very rich people think is cool.

[N est à?]

The Gonedependent?

Sounds like what D.C Thomson did with the Dandy, made it online only, then quickly pulled the plug completely once the news cycle had moved on. And yeah, that sounds right that Lebedev considers the London free sheet more than sufficient for billionaire fascist ego-stroking and cross-media plugs.

[johnr]

The Gonedependent?

I actually think the i could make a good go of things, especially since it appears there's going to be an upping of their staff from 20-odd to about 70 (I'd imagine a few of those will be some headline acts from the Indy). They've proved there's a market for a cut-price reasonably-intelligent paper already, just need to build on it.

[Flynnie]

The Gonedependent?

johnr wrote: Overall, they were/are trying to adapt to a new technology, but had/have no idea how to make it profitable. Murdoch is/was convinced of the need for a paywall, but I think has recently brought it down regarding The Sun.

The problem with paywalls now is the horse has bolted from the stable, but giving away newspaper content in 1996 was an awful idea yet somebody, somewhere, seemed to think it was an OK.

I'm guessing it was somebody who thought the Internet was a novelty or something, which takes an impressive amount of sand to lay one's head into.

[caja-dglh]

The Gonedependent?

Makes me wonder how the Guardian is coping. It made what must be one of the worst decisions with the benefit of hindsight by investing in their Berliner press infrastructure.

[G-Man]

The Gonedependent?

For almost twenty years The Independent was kept alive by the asset stripping and profit exported from the South African titles that thuggish fuck Tony O'Reilly virtually destroyed.

[MsD]

The Gonedependent?

Gone down the swanny*, geddit * show-off Russian speaker.

Shame about people losing jobs.

[E10 Rifle]

The Gonedependent?

especially since it appears there's going to be an upping of their staff from 20-odd to about 70

That "20-odd" is an extremely disingenuous figure, since it applies only to i-specific employees. Most of the heavy lifting - the actually writing and subbing - is done by Independent people. The quality of either the i or the website - or possibly both - is likely to plummet as a result of the splitting-off. It all seems very confusing.

It's all making me a bit sad. Back in the late 80s/early 90s, the Independent was possibly the best designed and best looking broadsheet newspaper there's ever been. Its sports coverage back then was really good too - it was the first paper to properly and consistently champion the emerging supporters' movement and fanzines, through people like Phil Shaw and Glenn Moore.

[johnr]

The Gonedependent?

E10 Rifle wrote:

especially since it appears there's going to be an upping of their staff from 20-odd to about 70

That "20-odd" is an extremely disingenuous figure, since it applies only to i-specific employees. Most of the heavy lifting - the actually writing and subbing - is done by Independent people.

Ah, I see, thanks.

I think the website writing has been pretty shit for a while, they seem to pull in articles/writers from elsewhere for a bit of clickbait.

I agree with you about the 90s. I last bought the actual paper a couple of weeks ago, it was still pretty good, if a little threadbare.

[Borracho]

The Gonedependent?

G-Man wrote: For almost twenty years The Independent was kept alive by the asset stripping and profit exported from the South African titles that thuggish fuck Tony O'Reilly virtually destroyed.

You will be delighted to hear that Sir AJF has since gone bankrupt and been forced into the indignity of selling off most of his huge residences (one of which, an elegant townhouse, is located less than 100 yards from where I am typing these words).

[G-Man]

The Gonedependent?

Good. What these people did to journalists and journalism in South Africa was just brutal. Fuckers.

[Benjm]

The Gonedependent?

caja-dglh wrote: Makes me wonder how the Guardian is coping. It made what must be one of the worst decisions with the benefit of hindsight by investing in their Berliner press infrastructure.

The Guardian weekday print edition goes up to £2 today. A statement from the editor in the Saturday edition cited exceptionally challenging industry conditions and flat out admitted that their business model is broken.

£2 does seem like a significant barrier, even allowing for the loyalty of the core print readership (our household included). It feels almost like tobacco pricing, putting the screws on a diminishing customer base that you rightly (tobacco) or wrongly (The Guardian, perhaps) assume are effectively your prisoners otherwise they would have jumped ship already.

[Borracho]

The Gonedependent?

All the geniuses who came up with the Guardian's strategy of giving the entire content away for free online – Rusbridger, Emily Bell, Carolyn McCall – are long gone to cushier pastures.

The Guardian itself seems hell-bent on driving away the entire left-voting segment of its circulation base, if its recent endorsements of Yvette Cooper for the Labour leadership and Hillary Clinton for the US presidency are any indication.

[Lucy Waterman]

The Gonedependent?

The Guardian backed the SDP in 83. I'm not sure relaunching as a Morning Star with more property coverage is the answer.