British newspaper ‘The Independent’ reached the market on October 7, 1986. Andreas Whittam Smith, Matthew Symonds, and Stephen Glover published the paper through their company Newspaper Publishing PLC. They were former journalists of the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph. The independent news soon became a favourite newspaper holding a circulation of over 400,000 newsprints in 1889.
The independent news layout
The paper caught the market eye with its modern design and the latest news as well as its low price. With the improved sales, the company launched its Sunday newspaper, The Independent Sunday, in 1990. They faced a price cut in the same year but started its advertising hand that accused The Daily Telegraph and The Times of publishing views of their management – Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch.
The independent management changes
In 1994, the Mirror Group of Newspapers bought a majority of shares of the Independent and restructured the company. Following year, (1995), the Independent News & Media, Prisa; and MGN divided the company shares among themselves. However, the Independent News & Media further tightened their hold of the company by purchasing 54 percent of its shares in 1998.
Sales decline of Independent
During this period, Brendan Hopkins led the Independent News, and Andrew Marr held its editor post. Andrew tried to re-design the paper, but he failed in his effort due to inadequate fund he received from the management in this regard. In 1998, he resigned, and Simon Keiner became the editor. However, the sale of the newspaper did not improve that much resulting in job removals and slashing occupational benefits of journalists.
The independent job cutting continues
In 2002, Ivan Fallon from The Sunday Times took the helm of the Independent News & Media, but the decline of its sales did not reverse. However, it saw some improvement from 2006. Despite the growth, the company further reduced its staff and in 2008, moved to Northcliffe House, Kensington High St where the Associated Newspapers’ headquarters lie.
The independent’s editors
Alexander Lebedev from Russia purchased the newspaper in March 2010. He also bought the London Evening Standard newspaper. Starting from Andreas Whittam Smith (1986) to Lisa Mmarkwell (2013), Independent recorded having 20 editors including them as well. It also had a few guest writers such as Elton John (2010), and Anita Roddick (2003).
The independent’s awards
The Newspaper won many awards since its inception. They include the Awards for National Newspaper of the Year (2003), and Front Page of the Year (2014). It also included their journalists who also won awards. Dave Brown won best cartoonist of the year (2012). Robert Chalmers went on to win Columnist of the year (2014). Patrick Cockburn won Foreign Reporter of the year (2014). Mathew Norman won the Interviewer of the Year (2007) award, while Francis Elliott, won the Political Journalist of the Year (2005). Furthermore, Michael McCarthy, won the Specialist Journalist of the Year (2003), while Jeremy Laurance, Specialist Journalist of the year (2011) and James Lawton, Sports Journalist of the Year (2010). Johann Hari awarded Young Journalist of the Year (2002), and Ed Caesar, Young Journalist of the Year (2006) is among some of them.
