Interview: Stephen Glover, columnist (Evening Standard)
By David Rowan
STEPHEN Glover didn't much enjoy I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! But what really made him grumble was the "crazy" daily coverage in our "dumbed-down" broadsheet press. Tarnishing his morning Times and Daily Telegraph alongside cutesy animal stories and David Beckham photos, it was further proof to Glover that Britain needed a serious daily newspaper. And if no one else would provide one, The Spectator's media columnist was raring to go.
Since he confirmed last month that he was seeking £15.4 million to launch an uncompromisingly upmarket daily, Glover has prompted much mockery among his putative rivals.
"Its readers certainly wouldn't make very good guests at a dinner party," the Telegraph's editor, Martin Newland, sneered yesterday, adding that the "Glover jihad" would end when the cash inevitably ran out. Media analysts, too, have doubted whether Glover can build the 100,000 circulation he seeks in today's cut-throat market. "I can't see anyone who would put any money in it," one agency manager told Media Week. "And I don't think it would be welcomed by advertisers." Will the paper - provisionally called The World - ever become more than fodder for media columns? Glover, currently pitching the intended tabloid to investors, is determinedly upbeat.
"We're doing quite well, and I'm optimistic we'll get there," he says.
"The point about raising money is that once you're moving forwards, you're likely to raise all of it." He will not reveal how much is in the bag, but says that once all the investors have confirmed, the paper will be on the newsstands in little more than six months.
"We have a professional management team on board, and it's all systems go," he says. Which month, then? Nothing will happen during the summer and Christmas advertising lulls, he says. Does that suggest spring 2005? "You could infer that," he replies, "but it's not impossible before that." Although The World began as a journalistic dream, Glover, 52, points tantalisingly to a " confidential" 70-page financial prospectus as proof that he has adjusted to commercial realities. As well as editorial recruits such as Francis Wheen and Frank Johnson, he has hired Vicky Unwin, formerly of PR Newswire, as managing director, and Emap's chairman, Adam Broadbent, to chair the company.
One prospective investor, who decided against backing the venture, nonetheless found the business plan extremely persuasive.
"I'm pretty sold on the project, though whether they can raise the money when a major title like the Telegraph is for sale is a different matter," he says. "Their research does show a huge lapsed newspaper readership among As and Bs, for whom 'less' in newspapers might prove to be 'more'. Just look at the success of The Week." The big question is whether Glover, who writes for the Daily Mail and was a founder of both Independent newspapers (whose troubles he documented in his book Paper Dreams) has genuinely identified an untapped market.
"There is undoubtedly an appetite among a significant minority for a serious paper," he insists. So where are they all now? "On the whole, they'll come from existing titles - they're probably reading The Times, Telegraph or Independent - or possibly none at all. There are about 11 million ABs in this country, of whom seven million don't read any newspaper." These are not "identikit" readers, he stresses. "There was a rather sexist comment in The Economist that they're typically 40-year-old males, but I don't believe that. It's rather patronising to think no woman wants to read serious journalism." Compared with the " supermarket" offerings of the broadsheets, The World will be "Fortnum & Mason". Glover neglects to mention that the upmarket store is suffering a serious financial crisis.
Is he so naive as to believe that £15million is enough to launch a newspaper? Nonsense, he says: this carefully costed sum even has contingency built in. "We've worked out the costs in fantastic detail - how many words every writer is expected to produce, how much rent we'll pay. We have a distribution partner and a printing partner so those costs are fixed." ALAS, he will not reveal the figures, but points out that the total is effectively half what he helped raise to found The Independent. "And we don't have to sell 400,000 - we're more of a niche product. I'd argue that the gap for our paper is now clearer than ever." Glover says he has already received 200 letters from journalists in pursuit of the 100 or so editorial jobs - "Ten or 20 of them quite major figures, two or three real stars". They will receive share options - and, according to those who have seen the business plan, some of the highest salaries in Fleet Street, with an editorial budget said to be £10 million. Money will be channelled towards domestic and foreign news at the expense of pictures. Politically, Glover says, the paper will be "broadminded" - "it really mustn't be a daily Spectator. What unites these disenfranchisedreaders is a revulsion with what's happening in politics." There are those who attribute Glover's crusade against "dumbing down" to simmering resentment at The Times, which by cutting its cover price in the Nineties caused The Independent severe financial pain. Indeed, he asserts highmindedly that the broadsheet "decline" began when price cuts led people to start reading The Times "who were never natural Times readers" - and, to its discredit, it accommodated their lowbrow tastes.
Glover's Spectator column has also frequently criticised the paper's editor, Robert Thomson, and his predecessor, Peter Stothard.
Is this the bitterness of an aggrieved former Independent executive? "I don't think so," he says. "I've never met Robert Thomson, so it couldn't be anything personal. It's just about what's happened to his paper." The Times has its own pithy response to Glover's claims: "Serious newspapers require serious investment," sniffs a spokeswoman.
Will he make it? The potential investor familiar with the business plan says that "serendipity" might come to Glover's rescue.
"The image he conveys might be a bit too fuddy-duddy and Right-ofcentre for most investors - more AN Wilson when they want Rod Liddle. But his paper might make a very attractive consolation prize for a bidder who fails to get the Telegraph."
(Evening Standard, March 24 2004)
STEPHEN Glover didn't much enjoy I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! But what really made him grumble was the "crazy" daily coverage in our "dumbed-down" broadsheet press. Tarnishing his morning Times and Daily Telegraph alongside cutesy animal stories and David Beckham photos, it was further proof to Glover that Britain needed a serious daily newspaper. And if no one else would provide one, The Spectator's media columnist was raring to go.
Since he confirmed last month that he was seeking £15.4 million to launch an uncompromisingly upmarket daily, Glover has prompted much mockery among his putative rivals.
"Its readers certainly wouldn't make very good guests at a dinner party," the Telegraph's editor, Martin Newland, sneered yesterday, adding that the "Glover jihad" would end when the cash inevitably ran out. Media analysts, too, have doubted whether Glover can build the 100,000 circulation he seeks in today's cut-throat market. "I can't see anyone who would put any money in it," one agency manager told Media Week. "And I don't think it would be welcomed by advertisers." Will the paper - provisionally called The World - ever become more than fodder for media columns? Glover, currently pitching the intended tabloid to investors, is determinedly upbeat.
"We're doing quite well, and I'm optimistic we'll get there," he says.
"The point about raising money is that once you're moving forwards, you're likely to raise all of it." He will not reveal how much is in the bag, but says that once all the investors have confirmed, the paper will be on the newsstands in little more than six months.
"We have a professional management team on board, and it's all systems go," he says. Which month, then? Nothing will happen during the summer and Christmas advertising lulls, he says. Does that suggest spring 2005? "You could infer that," he replies, "but it's not impossible before that." Although The World began as a journalistic dream, Glover, 52, points tantalisingly to a " confidential" 70-page financial prospectus as proof that he has adjusted to commercial realities. As well as editorial recruits such as Francis Wheen and Frank Johnson, he has hired Vicky Unwin, formerly of PR Newswire, as managing director, and Emap's chairman, Adam Broadbent, to chair the company.
One prospective investor, who decided against backing the venture, nonetheless found the business plan extremely persuasive.
"I'm pretty sold on the project, though whether they can raise the money when a major title like the Telegraph is for sale is a different matter," he says. "Their research does show a huge lapsed newspaper readership among As and Bs, for whom 'less' in newspapers might prove to be 'more'. Just look at the success of The Week." The big question is whether Glover, who writes for the Daily Mail and was a founder of both Independent newspapers (whose troubles he documented in his book Paper Dreams) has genuinely identified an untapped market.
"There is undoubtedly an appetite among a significant minority for a serious paper," he insists. So where are they all now? "On the whole, they'll come from existing titles - they're probably reading The Times, Telegraph or Independent - or possibly none at all. There are about 11 million ABs in this country, of whom seven million don't read any newspaper." These are not "identikit" readers, he stresses. "There was a rather sexist comment in The Economist that they're typically 40-year-old males, but I don't believe that. It's rather patronising to think no woman wants to read serious journalism." Compared with the " supermarket" offerings of the broadsheets, The World will be "Fortnum & Mason". Glover neglects to mention that the upmarket store is suffering a serious financial crisis.
Is he so naive as to believe that £15million is enough to launch a newspaper? Nonsense, he says: this carefully costed sum even has contingency built in. "We've worked out the costs in fantastic detail - how many words every writer is expected to produce, how much rent we'll pay. We have a distribution partner and a printing partner so those costs are fixed." ALAS, he will not reveal the figures, but points out that the total is effectively half what he helped raise to found The Independent. "And we don't have to sell 400,000 - we're more of a niche product. I'd argue that the gap for our paper is now clearer than ever." Glover says he has already received 200 letters from journalists in pursuit of the 100 or so editorial jobs - "Ten or 20 of them quite major figures, two or three real stars". They will receive share options - and, according to those who have seen the business plan, some of the highest salaries in Fleet Street, with an editorial budget said to be £10 million. Money will be channelled towards domestic and foreign news at the expense of pictures. Politically, Glover says, the paper will be "broadminded" - "it really mustn't be a daily Spectator. What unites these disenfranchisedreaders is a revulsion with what's happening in politics." There are those who attribute Glover's crusade against "dumbing down" to simmering resentment at The Times, which by cutting its cover price in the Nineties caused The Independent severe financial pain. Indeed, he asserts highmindedly that the broadsheet "decline" began when price cuts led people to start reading The Times "who were never natural Times readers" - and, to its discredit, it accommodated their lowbrow tastes.
Glover's Spectator column has also frequently criticised the paper's editor, Robert Thomson, and his predecessor, Peter Stothard.
Is this the bitterness of an aggrieved former Independent executive? "I don't think so," he says. "I've never met Robert Thomson, so it couldn't be anything personal. It's just about what's happened to his paper." The Times has its own pithy response to Glover's claims: "Serious newspapers require serious investment," sniffs a spokeswoman.
Will he make it? The potential investor familiar with the business plan says that "serendipity" might come to Glover's rescue.
"The image he conveys might be a bit too fuddy-duddy and Right-ofcentre for most investors - more AN Wilson when they want Rod Liddle. But his paper might make a very attractive consolation prize for a bidder who fails to get the Telegraph."
(Evening Standard, March 24 2004)
posted by David Rowan at Wednesday, March 24, 2004
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