WikiPortallus: The Independent.html

The Independent is a British compact newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media. It is nicknamed the Indy, with the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, being the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers, with a circulation of 240,503 in May 2008 according to the UK Audited Bureau of Circulations. The Sunday edition has bucked its trend of faring worse than its daily sister; up 1.63% in the last nine months to August 2007 at 216,371, and at May 2008 a readership of 200,920. The first rise for a considerable time would seem to reflect a buoying effect of the June 2007 relaunch. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The Independent is politically left-leaning.³

History

Creation in 1986

The Independent is the youngest of the current British "compact" newspapers, first published on 7 October 1986 as a broadsheet. It was produced by Newspaper Publishing Ltd. and created by Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds. All three were former journalists at The Daily Telegraph who had left the paper towards the end of Lord Hartwell's ownership. Marcus Sieff was the first chairman of Newspaper Publishing and Whittam Smith took control of the paper.

The paper was created at a time of considerable tension in British journalism. Rupert Murdoch was challenging long accepted practices and was fighting with the print unions. In this unsettled atmosphere the newly created paper was able to attract very good staff from the Murdoch broadsheets, who chose to jump ship rather than move to Wapping.

Launched with the advertising slogan "It is. Are you?", and challenging The Guardian for its politically centre-left readers, and The Times as a 'newspaper of record', it reached a circulation of over 400,000 in 1989. Competing for readers in a moribund market, the arrival of The Independent was one of the factors that sparked both a general freshening of newspaper design as well as a costly 'price war'. The market was very tight, and when The Independent launched an independent Sunday edition in 1990, sales were less than anticipated. Some aspects of production were consequently merged with the main paper, although Sunday publication did continue with a largely distinct editorial staff.

In the 1990s, The Independent started an advertising campaign, accusing its rivals, The Times and The Daily Telegraph of reflecting the views of their respective proprietors, Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black. It featured spoofs of their mastheads with the words 'THE RUPERT MURDOCH', 'The Conrad Black', and below, 'THE INDEPENDENT'.

Financial problems

By the 1990s it became clear that the parent company, Newspaper Publishing, was suffering financial difficulties. Several other newspapers launched in the 1980s (the Sunday Correspondent being one example) had swiftly collapsed without establishing a large enough base of loyal readers to ensure profitability, and The Independent was experiencing similar problems. Two European media groups soon took small stakes in the company. A number of other media companies were interested in the paper for a number of reasons. Both Sir Tony O Reilly's media group and Mirror Group Newspapers developed substantial stakes in the company by mid 1994. In March 1995 Newspaper Publishing was restructured with a rights issue, splitting the shareholding into Independent News & Media (43%), MGN (43%), and Prisa (El Pais, 12%). In the same month, Whittam Smith left the paper.^{citation needed}

In April 1996 there was another refinancing and in March 1998 O'Reilly bought out the other 54% of the company for £30 million, and assumed the company's debt. Brendan Hopkins headed Independent News while Andrew Marr was appointed editor of The Independent and Rosie Boycott of The Independent on Sunday. Marr introduced a dramatic if short-lived redesign which won some critical favour, but was largely a commercial failure, partly as a result of a limited promotional budget. (Marr has since admitted his changes were foolhardy in his semi-autobiographical work My Trade.)^{citation needed}

Boycott left in April 1998 (to The Daily Express) and Marr in May 1998 (later to join the BBC as its Political Editor). Simon Kelner was made the new editor. By this time the circulation of the paper had fallen to below 200,000. Independent News spent heavily to improve circulation and the paper underwent a number of redesigns. While circulation improved it did not approach the 1989 figures or restore the paper to profitability and the job cuts and tight financial controls took their toll on the journalists and their morale. Ivan Fallon, on the board since 1995 and once a key figure at the Sunday Times, replaced Hopkins as head of Independent News & Media in July 2002. By mid 2004, the newspaper was still losing £5million a year. A gradual improvement has meant that by 2006, with circulation at a nine year high, profitability is expected soon.⁴

Change from broadsheet to tabloid size

The Independent was originally published in broadsheet form, but from September 2003 was produced in a choice of broadsheet and tabloid forms, with the same content in each. The tabloid version was termed by the newspaper "compact", to distance itself from the racy, down-market publications usually associated with the term "tabloid". The smaller format was rolled out gradually throughout the UK. Rupert Murdoch's Times followed suit, introducing its own "compact" version. Prior to these changes, The Independent had a daily circulation of around 217,500, the lowest of any major national British daily newspaper, climbing to claim a 15% rise in circulation by March 2004 (taking it to circa 250,000). Throughout much of 2006, circulation generally stagnated at the quarter of a million mark. On 14 May 2004, The Independent produced its last weekday broadsheet edition, having stopped producing a Saturday broadsheet edition in January. The Sindie (Independent on Sunday) published its last simultaneous broadsheet edition on 9 October 2005, and has since also followed a "compact" design.

On 12 April 2005, The Independent unveiled a 'radical redesign' of its layout to a more European feel, somewhat similar to France's Libération. (The redesign was carried out by a Barcelona design studio.) The weekday second section was subsumed within the body of the main paper, double-page feature articles became common in the main news pages, and there were revisions to both front and back covers. It has spent over £1,000,000 on promotion.

On 25 April 2006, a new second section, Extra was introduced. It is similar to The Guardian's G2 and The Times' Times2, containing features, reportage and games, including Sudoku.

Political Stance

Front page of The Independent, Robert Fisk reported evidence that Israel might have used a "secret new uranium-based weapon" during the 2006 Lebanon War.⁵

While The Independent claims to represent contrasting political opinions, hosting right-wing columnists such as Bruce Anderson and Dominic Lawson, its politics are considered by some to be the most left-wing of any national British daily. A MORI Poll taken between April-June 2000 showed that 60% of Independent readers were Labour Party voters.⁶ A 2004 poll by MORI showed that 39% of its readers were Liberal Democrat voters whilst 36% supported Labour.⁷^{dead link}

In recent years, it has often had critical, editorial-style front page spreads on George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and Israeli government policies. In a 2006 article Robert Fisk reported soil sample evidence that Israel might have used a "secret new uranium-based weapon" during the 2006 Lebanon War.⁵ United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts determined that as of February 2007 there was no evidence of depleted-uranium-ammunitions.⁸⁹

The Independent has recently run campaigns for electoral reform and against the introduction of ID cards and the restriction of mass migration into the UK. Originally, The Independent has consciously avoided Royal stories; Whittam Smith once commented that he did this to protect the institution rather than out of republican motives. The newspaper still gives comparatively little attention to the British monarchy.^{citation needed}

The Independent is frequently satirised, particularly by Private Eye for its front pages, often dominated by statistics on specific political issues or an expressly politicised leader article, rather than more traditional news and photographs. Private Eye has in the past referred to The Independent as The Indescribablyboring or The Irrelevant.^{citation needed}

In 2007 Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the The Guardian, said of the Independent: "The emphasis on views, not news, means that the reporting is rather thin, and it loses impact on the front page the more you do that."¹⁰ In a June 12, 2007 speech British Prime Minister Tony Blair called The Independent a "viewspaper", saying The Independent "was started as an antidote to the idea of journalism as views not news. That was why it was called the Independent. Today it is avowedly a viewspaper not merely a newspaper.¹¹ The Independent criticized Blair's comments on its front page the next day.^{citation needed}

On 23 January 2008, The Independent successfully relaunched its online edition independent.co.uk.¹² Generally seen as a critical and commercial success,¹³ the relaunch introduced a radical new look, better access to the popular blog service, priority on image and video content and a range of additional areas of the site including Art & Architecture, Fashion, Gadgets & Tech and Health & Wellbeing. The paper has also launched Podcast programmes such as The Independent Music Radio Show, The Independent Travel Guides, The Independent Sailing Podcasts, and The Independent Video Travel Guides.

The (RED) Independent

The Independent has recently shown support for U2 lead singer Bono's Product RED brand by creating an edition of the newspaper called The (RED) Independent, an occasional edition of the paper that gives half of the day's proceeds to the charity.¹⁴ The first edition was printed in May 2006. Edited by Bono, it drew high sales.¹⁵

A September 2006 edition of The RED Independent, designed by fashion designer Giorgio Armani, drew controversy due to its cover shot, showing model Kate Moss dressed in blackface for an article about AIDS in Africa.¹⁶

Sections

Following newspaper trends, the Saturday and Sunday editions of The Independent provide a considerably more substantial read, constituting a considerable bulk, published as they are with a host of regular supplements and pull-out subsections. The four- and five-part publications, respectively, consist in addition to the main paper of:^{citation needed}

Editors

There have also been various guest editors over the years, such as the Body Shop's Anita Roddick on 19 June 2003 and U2's Bono in 2006.

Writers and columnists

Notable photographers

In popular culture

In Nigel Williams' book Scenes from a Poisoner's Life, the only newspaper allowed in the house of Henry Farr (the main protagonist) by his wife Elinor is The Independent on Sunday.

References

^ Tryhorn, Chris (9 May 2008). "April ABCS - Financial Times dips for second month", Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on 24 May 2008.
^ Brook, Stephen (9 May 2008). "April ABCS - Monthly gains for two Sunday qualities", Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on 24 May 2008.
^ U.K. paper follows rivals into tabloid format: At The Times, size matters, International Herald Tribune, December 8, 2003.
^ Lelic, Sarah (2006-09-19). "INM eyes Independent profit", mad.co.uk.
^ ^a ^b Robert Fisk, Robert Fisk: Mystery of Israel's secret uranium bomb; Alarm over radioactive legacy left by attack on Lebanon, The Independent, October 28, 2006.
^ Cited in International Socialism, Spring 2003, ISBN 1-898876-97-5
^ Mori poll
^ Eric Silver in Jerusalem, UN investigates Israel's 'uranium weapons', The Independent, October 30, 2006.
^ Nour Samaha, Panel finds 'no evidence' Israel used depleted uranium in 2006 war; Unanimous findings says levels are consistent with natural occurrence, Lebanon Daily Star, February 27, 2007.
^ What happened when the Guardian editor met Piers Morgan, The Guardian, April 2, 2007.
^ Full text: Blair on the media, BBC News, 12 June 2007
^ Full text: Welcome to The Independent's new website, The Independent, 23 January 2008
^ Full text: Independent unveils revamped website, Journalism.co.uk, 23 January 2008
^ Vallely, Paul (2006-05-15). "A red revolution on the high street", The Independent.
^ "They found what they were looking for", NewsDesigner.com (2006-05-23).
^ Pool, Hannah (2006-09-22). "Return to the dark ages", The Guardian.

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