Friday is expected to see the Independent and Independent on Sunday sold to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, under whose ownership the London Evening Standard became a freesheet last year. The fact that Lebedev and his son met Gordon Brown this week seems to confirm that the deal is likely to go through. Everyone is waiting to see if Lebedev will also make the Indie a free newspaper, which could cause some headaches for certain other daily papers.
The other question is who will edit the paper. One-time shoo-in Rod Liddle, former editor of Radio 4’s Today, is apparently out of the running, following a vociferous campaign against him. Here, Guardian deputy media editor Stephen Brook speculates about who might take the editor’s chair instead, with some interesting names that include Jeremy Paxman and GQ editor Dylan Jones.
