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Evening Standard to sack half its journalists

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The Evening Standard is to axe about a third of its staff as part of a major restructuring that will shift the firm's focus away from print in the wake of the pandemic.

Some 115 roles at the London newspaper are to be cut, including 69 in editorial - almost half of its team of journalists - and 46 in other areas.

The bleak announcement comes after the Covid crisis hammered an already-struggling newspaper industry. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp on Thursday revealed a $1.5bn (£1.2bn) loss in its latest financial year after advertising revenue fell during the pandemic.

The pandemic has posed a particular challenge for the Standard. As a free title, it is heavily dependent on advertising revenues and footfall on public transport for readership.

A spokesman said: "The proposed restructuring underway at the Evening Standard is a result of the difficult market conditions that have affected the entire media industry over recent times; these challenging conditions have been further accentuated by Covid-19.

"However, the changes also reflect the evolution of the Standard’s business priorities which are being defined by the changing behaviours and demands of our readers and customers.

"Under the new management team the Evening Standard will be focused on building its digital and mobile offering alongside print, whilst also developing a live events business with other new initiatives to be announced."

It comes days after the newspaper's owner Evgeny Lebedev was awarded a peerage by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Standard last month named David Cameron's sister in law Emily Sheffield as its new editor, replacing former Chancellor George Osborne who has moved to a hands-off role as editor-in-chief. Ms Sheffield is an experienced journalist who was previously deputy editor of Vogue.

Chief executive Charles Yardley said: "The proposed restructuring at the Evening Standard comes at a challenging time for the industry, which has been accentuated by the pandemic.

"However, there remains a huge opportunity for the Company, moving from London’s leading newspaper to London’s leading media platform, delivering the best content and services to our readers and our customers across multiple channels, whilst also launching new products and experiences."

At News Corp - which owns The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times in Britain -  total revenues dropped 22pc to $1.9bn for the three months to the end of June, with its UK and Australian newspaper businesses suffering sharp declines.

Ad revenues at News Media, News Corp's largest unit which now excludes Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, declined by $290m. Dow Jones brought in record subscriptions during the crisis.