I was taken to task by Juan Giner a couple of weeks ago when I criticised free newspapers as being worthless - without news, without investigative, crusading, muck-raking journalism, and without value to the public. No, Giner wrote to me, they're not all bad and mentioned three successful Spanish frees that do "good journalism" and "are more than 'cut and paste' newspapers".
Now come statistics that tend to prove his point because all three are thriving, and they are certainly well-staffed. QUE! is the leader with a daily distribution of 963,600. It publishes 13 editions and has 150 journalists. In second place is 20 Minutos, with 963,400 and third is ADN, with 912,000. Interestingly, the paper that started the free revolution in Europe, Metro, manages to give away only 787,000 a day, and - as Giner suggests - it may well be the first casualty of the current war.
Incidentally, contrast the free figures with those of the paid-for titles: El Pais, 432,000; El Mundo, 330,000; ABC, 240,000 and La Vanguardia, 102,000. Of course, as we know in Britain, audience size isn't everything. But, in previous years, the paid-fors seemed unable to do more than sell to a relatively small élite in Spain. So there is little doubt that the frees have significantly enlarged the paper-reading public in Spain.
I noted in a visit to Barcelona last year just how enthusiastic people were about taking their free copies outside the metro stations. I guess, then, that I have to concede that not all frees are bad. Indeed, there are some frees in Britain that are good too. They are not, however, entitled thelondonpaper and London Lite!
