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The World is the working title of a new British compact newspaper, to be managed by Stephen Glover. The planned launch is hoped to take place in late 2005 or early 2006. Glover intends to model the newspaper on the French newspaper Le Monde, and plans to shun celebrity-orientated tabloid news.
Disillusion with current quality newspapers
Glover's plan comes from his belief that broadsheet readers are increasingly disillusioned with the "dumbing-down" of their newspapers and that over 100,000 readers have stopped reading quality daily papers already.
Glover points to the decline in standards at The Times under its previous editor Peter Stothard and current editor Robert Thomson. He believes that The Times is increasingly dominated by "celebrities and furry animals", news which he believes would not have been part of the newspaper in the past.
However, there is little evidence to back up Glover's claims. Robert Thomson at The Times says that whilst he agrees there is more traditionally tabloid content in the paper, there is also more quality coverage of politics, current affairs and particularly business. The Times is now around three times the size it was in the 1970s. Sales of broadsheet and compact newspapers have increased over the past ten years, and the Financial Times is still a highly upmarket publication. The Daily Telegraph devotes a large amount of space to serious news coverage, generally demoting celebrity-related stories to the features pages, and The Guardian provides a similar range of stories with a left-wing perspective.
Potential competition
The Guardian is to switch to a mid-size format in 2005 or 2006. A likely launch date is Monday, September 5, 2005 (according to the Financial Times). Insiders suggest that this newspaper is to move to the centre politically and make its content more serious.
The Times is likely to launch a separate business section, to attract more upmarket readers.
The Daily Telegraph is to retain its broadsheet format, unlike Glover's paper, which will launch in tabloid size. This helps it create a quality image.
The Financial Times has a very upmarket image. It is a broadsheet and has a comprehensive politics section as well as vast business coverage.
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