''Marianas Variety'' is a daily

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

published in

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonw ...

, five times per week. It is owned by Younis Art Studio Inc. ''Marianas Variety'' is a member of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

, and the Pacific Islands News Association.

Publication

Established on March 16, 1972, ''Marianas Variety News & Views'' today has a readership of 40,000 in the Northern Mariana Islands and 2,000 elsewhere in

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

. It had a sister publications: the ''

Palau Horizon The ''Palau Horizon'' is a newspaper headquartered in Koror, Palau. The newspaper was launched in Palau in 1998 and had a circulation of approximately 8,000 readers in 2008. The newspaper is a sister publication of the larger ''Marianas Variety ...

'' in

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

, which had a readership of 8,000, launched in 1998. Former sister publication ''Variety on Guam'' was sold in 2015 and is now the

Guam Daily Post ''The Guam Daily Post'' is a newspaper based in Tamuning, in the United States territory of Guam. It is owned by the Ho S. Eun Trust and is published seven days a week. The paper started in 2004 as the Guam edition of the '' Marianas Variety'', ...

. ''Variety'' prints an average of 24-40 pages daily with full color capability and is distributed in the

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, and the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (; abbreviated FSM) is an island country in Oceania. It consists of four states from west to east, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosraethat are spread across the western Pacific. Together, the states comprise a ...

. It has subscribers throughout the South Pacific, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and the

mainland United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

History

In 2003, the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

gave an Environmental Achievement Award to ''Marianas Variety News & Views'' for "producing consistent, extensive, fearless and unbiased news coverage focusing on the causes, resolutions and preventions of environmental issues — including the contamination of soil, groundwater, drinking water, seawater and air — along with their effects to human health and safety." The newspaper has also received awards from the local chapter of the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

Defamation lawsuit

In 2001, the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) held a gubernatorial election in which Covenant Party politician

Benigno Fitial Benigno Repeki Fitial (born November 27, 1945) is a Northern Marianan politician who served was the seventh governor of the Northern Mariana Islands. The second longest-serving governor in CNMI history, Fitial was elected on November 6, 2005, assu ...

, then the Speaker of the CNMI House of Representatives, was a contender. On October 19, 2001, Rep. Stanley Torres wrote a letter insinuating that Fitial had accepted a $100,000 bribe from businessman

Willie Tan Tan Holdings Corporation is a holding company with operations on Guam, USA, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), which is also a territory of the United States, in the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and more recent ...

. Three days later, ''Variety'' ran a front-page article headlined, "Torres accuses Fitial of accepting bribe," with the caption "Fitial calls allegation 'absurd.'" On October 25, Torres ran a paid political advertisement in ''Variety'' which reprinted the full letter and added, "I don’t hide behind legislative shield to tell LIES. I don’t go to daily Mass and receive Holy Communion and tell LIES." Abed Younis, the newspaper's owner, approved the advertisement for publication. The newspaper also published paid advertisements from Torres vehemently refusing to retract his allegations. Fitial lost the election. In March 2003, Fitial and Tan filed a defamation lawsuit against the ''Variety'' for printing the advertisements. Their argument was based largely upon Younis's personal dislike of Tan, who was a partial owner of a rival newspaper, the ''

Saipan Tribune The ''Saipan Tribune'' is a newspaper published online seven days a week and in print from Monday to Friday in the Northern Mariana Islands. The ''Saipan Tribune'' is headquartered in Saipan. The newspaper is owned by Pacific Publications and Prin ...

'', and upon the ''Varietys failure to investigate Torres's claims further than the original article before printing the advertisements. The trial court granted

summary judgement may refer to: * Abstract (summary), shortening a passage or a write-up without changing its meaning but by using different words and sentences * Epitome, a summary or miniature form * Abridgement, the act of reducing a written work into a sho ...

in favor of the newspaper; this was affirmed by the

Northern Mariana Islands Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 1 CMC § 3101, is the highest court of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), exercising civil and criminal appellate jurisdiction over common ...

, which cited '' The New York Times Company v. Sullivan'' and determined that Younis Art Studio was not liable for defamation under the

actual malice Actual malice in United States law is a legal requirement imposed upon public officials or public figures when they file suit for libel (defamatory printed communications). Compared to other individuals who are less well known to the general pub ...

test. The decision stated that there was no evidence that ''Variety'' had knowingly printed false information, nor was there evidence that ''Variety'' had acted with a reckless disregard for the advertisements' truthfulness. The court ruled that Younis's dislike for Tan was immaterial to the case, as it had no bearing on the determination of actual malice, and that the newspaper did not have to investigate the truthfulness of the advertisements absent serious doubts regarding them. The court also rejected the claim that Tan's financial interest in the ''Tribune'' played into ''Varietys actions, noting that there was no evidence of any such profiteering scheme.

Awards

* Best Newspaper, awarded by the Society of Professional Journalists-NMI chapter in 1995 * Best Editorial Writing, SPJ-NMI, 1995 * Best News Photography, SPJ-NMI, 1995 * NMI Humanities Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism, 2001 * Best Online Edition of a Pacific Island Newspaper, 2002 * Environmental Achievement Award, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2003

References

External links

Official website
{{Newspapers in the United States Newspapers established in 1972 English-language newspapers published in Oceania Newspapers published in the Northern Mariana Islands Daily newspapers published in the United States Mass media in the Northern Mariana Islands 1972 establishments in Oceania