The MEN is a great regional newspaper. It's not perfect but it's ours and I personally love it. It's hard to see why they give it away for free in the city centre. But it does mean that EVERYONE in the city centre reads it! You can't get away from it, the only way to fend off the enthusiastic street vendors is to walk down the street holding a copy! But when you haven't got a copy, you do miss it. Bus journeys seem twice as long! Plus you'll end up being left out once you actually get to work! There's always at least one article that everyone is either outraged or hugely amused by! I really do generally enjoy reading it, sure there are mistakes but it's a regional newspaper so they have the bare minimum staff! Sure there are a lot of adverts but they give it away for free so they have to raise revenue somehow! The charity campaigns, as Emma-Louise has mentioned, are really well done. The 'Cash Back' campaign for Christies charity to reclaim £6.5 million from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme really captured the heart of Manchester and it was a huge success too! I love to see the paper doing well and I love to see Manchester getting behind it. Long live the MEN! read more

Manchester Evening News - "Website Photo" - Print Media Near Me

The Manchester Evening News (MEN) is a tabloid newspaper which is a local newspaper distributed around Manchester, in addition to local newspapers towns in Greater Manchester might have, for example I'm from Middleton and locally we have The Middleton Guardian, but on a large scale we have The Manchester Evening News. Most people in Manchester will have heard of and probably read the MEN, with a circulation of over 50,000 it is quite respectable for a local paper but only 1/16 of the readers of the London Evening Standard. The Manchester Evening News was always distributed free, up until January 2010, when between Manchester to Friday, it was handed out for free in the city centre in other locations, but now it is only free on Thursday's and Friday's, but still remains paid for outside of the city center, which is also giving those who don't live in the city centre a bad deal. I've always found the newspaper to be a typical tabloid, owned by the Mirror they focus on sport, and apart from that it is quite a poor paper, minus a few local articles which do get covered here, and it certainly isn't worth paying for, and sometimes it isn't even worth picking it up if it is free, the handing out of papers can get repetitive too, if you're going round the city center, you could meet half a dozen sales reps trying to hand you a "free" paper or trying to sell them, which is a waste of money. I'd like to offer MEN some advice to follow the approach of London, in setting up stands at train and tube stops, this means they don't have to pay wages of staff just to hand out papers, and they can be used in other roles, meaning the public don't feel harassed and this would save money too, meaning the newspaper could be free on more days, meaning they can make more money through advertising for example and make it overall a better local paper, this would help it to compete with other regional papers readership totals, such as the Evening Standard. Manchester does have a smaller population than London, but I don't see why the readership can't be doubled or trebled with a few right moves, but for now it is just below average and deserves 2 stars. I do like the feature how on Mothers Day and Fathers Day you can print a message in the paper for free online, but other than this and few good sport and local articles, this paper really isn't good for anything else. read more

Manchester Evening News - Front page from 30th January 2016. Photo from www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk - Print Media Near Me

I used to read it when it was free. It's still free on Thursday and Friday which is good because you can still have a look through their jobs. But as a paper, I never liked it. I don't like their news. But you know, free paper, being bored on a bus or tram, you might as well kill your time for a bit. But now that you need to pay for it, I will always rather a different one. Like The independent, the guardian or a normal magazine that will teach me stupid things that I already know. I mean, I respect that people are trying to keep us informed with everything is going on in our lovely city, but I think they should put a bit more effort in it, and surely they should leave it free so that everyone will access the news no matter what. read more

The MEN is a great regional paper for Manchester, and the fact that it's free is even better. Think, if you were in London you'd have to pay for the Evening Standard. And that's why the ES can't compete with the Metro and Lite papers that are being given away for free. The MEN is available on practically every street corner in Manchester, meaning that there is absolutely no need to pick up a wishy-washy Metros. You can get a great local paper with a bit of substance instead. The jobs section out on a Thursday is a valuable resource for any job-hinters out there, being jam packed with high flying office jobs as well all the bar and restaurant jobs that are going at the moment. There's a good mix of regional and local reporting at a good quality in the MEN. If you're a fan of either Manchester United or Manchester City, then this paper is amazing for you. They have pages and pages of sports coverage on the city's two teams every day. read more

Confession: I've never actually bought a copy of the Manchester Evening News. But I have picked up their free editions on loads of occasions -- in fact I'll often go out of my way to do so when I'm in Manchester during the week (which doesn't happen often). I suppose its the breadth of their journalism that appeals -- they seem to have something for everyone, whether your normal read would be the Telegraph or the Sun. They seem to cover issues fairly because I would think that, unlike some more local papers, they're big enough to be able to employ specialists in areas where it matters (on things like health and education). Add to that the editorial/managerial bravery in experimenting (successfully) in giving away free editions of the paper in the city centre, and you have a winning combination of good management, good journalism and good value. All in all, therefore, an excellent local newspaper. read more