MediaGuardian are reporting that The Independent is considering going tabloid – in the London region at least, possibly alongside its broadsheet version in newsagents. And this could all happen by 30 September!
It’d be a brave and yet very interesting decision to make. I’d love a newspaper to have the look and feel of Liberation in France, which over the years has made very powerful use of its front cover.
But there are a couple of strange things about this. Why only in London? And how can you keep the broadsheet on sale next to it? I suppose this is to lessen the impact for died-in-the-wool broadsheet traditionalists, but I don’t know that it’s necessary. The other aspect is the suggestion that it’d only cost 30p while the broadsheet currently costs 60p. Is that to entice you into reading the tabloid version?
Time will tell with this interesting development.