By Sarah Lagan
Former Evening Standard diarist Joy Dico has been named as editor
of the new weekly newspaper aimed at central London’s young commuters.
London Line, a 24-page free paper to be distributed mainly from tube stations, launches on 14 April.
It will cover international and London news and is based on alternative magazines in the US such as New York’s Village Voice.
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Lo
Dico spent a few years in the theatre before studying English at Oxford
University. She then joined the Evening Standard Londoner’s Diary and
has since written across the national press for diaries including Peter
McKay’s Ephraim Hardcastle column in the Daily Mail, The Independent’s
Pandora and The Daily Telegraph’s Mandrake and Spy columns.
Lo
Dico said: “Being a diarist I’ve worked on the frontline, meeting PRs
and getting original stories and this will set London Line apart.
“I
will be taking journalists out and showing them how to build their own
stories; we won’t just be constantly feeding off the PA wire.”
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She
added: “Our readers are likely to be heavy internet users, so breaking
news particular to our audience is important. We’ll bring a fresh
perspective on the London newspaper market.”
London Line’s news
editor is Finian Davern, who was a reporter on the launches of the
Metro in Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle. He became acting deputy
news editor in Manchester.
A former editor on listings website
Londontown.com, Serena Kutchinsky comes on board as the paper’s Long
Weekend editor, overseeing the entertainments listings section.
The
mysterious fictional prostitute, Belle de Jour, will write an agony
aunt column and New Statesman radio columnist Louis Barfe will also
write a column for the paper, but with more focus on music-based
stations.
A founder of the Cambridge Student and former BBC News
24 journalist, Damian Kahya is publisher, and former comedian and
sitcom writer, Tom Phillips is associate editor. Le Dico also plans to
use a string of national newspaper journalists on a freelance basis.
There
are two news agendas for the title: London-specific news, including
business, culture and politics; as well as an international agenda
covering stories only lightly touched on by the national press, if at
all.
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