I’m confused. Is ‘Free’ good business or bad?

Last week, just days after the disappearance of one of London’s evening freesheets, the venerable Evening Standard announced it is going to be given away. A thousand forests shivered at the thought of circulation increasing from a quarter of a million to 600,000.

Bizarrely, the decision puts the Standard head-to-head with the paper that was launched to protect it from the threat of of Murdoch’s TheLondonPaper. There’s even a content sharing deal between the two papers – but while the London Lite is still owned by Associated, the Standard is now owned by Russian Oligarch Alexander Lebedev.

Meanwhile The Economist – which should know a thing or two about business models – today announced it will erect a paywall (a dread image that reminds me of Glastonbury Festival’s Superfence) in front of archive content.

Like The Financial Times, The Economist has the sort of information that helps shape financial decisions and therefore has value. But by giving away The Evening Standard for free, is Lebedev devaluing its editorial content? Or, worse (for us journos at least), devaluing ALL editorial content?

Perhaps not. Both Shortlist and Sport manage to produce quality editorial without charging a cover price. But it seems odd to be building a business entirely on the back of an advertising industry that seems to be running away from stylish, extravagant branding ads in favour of direct-response Google links.

The Economist model seems to make more sense to me But what do I know: while I’ve written for The Evening Standard, London Lite and TheLondonPaper, I’m not smart enough to make the pages of The Economist. Perhaps my confusion – and fear – comes from knowing that there’s not much place for a hack in a knowledge economy.

Or, put another way: in this age of social networking, content isn’t king anymore; content is plebeian. There’s little difference between the work of professional ‘content producers’ and the digital hubbub. Everything is permitted, nothing has value – unless you assign a value to it. Even an arbitrary one.

That’ll be 50p please.

See also:

How much is money?

The Standard says sorry

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