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''The Independent'' is a British
online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a
broadsheet and changed to
tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition.
The newspaper was controlled by
Tony O'Reilly's Irish
Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to the
Russian oligarch
Russian oligarchs ( Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Sovi ...
and former
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
Officer
Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev ( rus, Александр Евгеньевич Лебедев, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲebʲɪdʲɪf; born 16 December 1959) is a Russian businessman, and has been referred to as one of t ...
in 2010.
In 2017, Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in it.
The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004
British Press Awards. The website and mobile app had a combined monthly reach of 19,826,000 in 2021.
History
1986 to 1990
Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in
broadsheet format.
[Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330] It was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by
Andreas Whittam Smith
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith, (born 13 June 1937) is an English financial journalist, who was one of the founders of ''The Independent'' newspaper, which began publication in October 1986 with Whittam Smith as editor. He is a former president of th ...
,
Stephen Glover and
Matthew Symonds. All three partners were former journalists at ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' 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 a fundamental change in British newspaper publishing.
Rupert Murdoch was challenging long-accepted practices of the print unions and ultimately defeated them in the
Wapping dispute. Consequently, production costs could be reduced which, it was said at the time, created openings for more competition. As a result of controversy around Murdoch's move to Wapping, the plant was effectively having to function under siege from sacked print workers picketing outside. ''The Independent'' attracted some of the staff from the two Murdoch broadsheets who had chosen not to move to his company's new headquarters. Launched with the advertising slogan "It is. Are you?", and challenging both ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' for centre-left readers and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' as the newspaper of record, ''The Independent'' reached a circulation of over 400,000 by 1989.
Competing in a moribund market, ''The Independent'' sparked a general freshening of newspaper design as well as, within a few years, a price war in the market sector. When ''The Independent'' launched ''The Independent on Sunday'' in 1990, sales were less than anticipated, partly due to the launch of the ''
Sunday Correspondent'' four months prior, although this direct rival closed at the end of November 1990. Some aspects of production merged with the main paper, although the Sunday paper retained a largely distinct editorial staff.
1990–1999
In the 1990s, ''The Independent'' was faced with price cutting by the Murdoch titles, and started an advertising campaign accusing ''The Times'' and ''The Daily Telegraph'' of reflecting the views of their proprietors, Rupert Murdoch and
Conrad Black. It featured spoofs of the other papers'
mastheads with the words ''The Rupert Murdoch'' or ''The Conrad Black'', with ''The Independent'' below the main title.
had financial problems. A number of other media companies were interested in the paper.
Tony O'Reilly's media group and
Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) had bought a stake of about a third each by mid-1994. In March 1995, Newspaper Publishing was restructured with a rights issue, splitting the shareholding into O'Reilly's
Independent News & Media (43%),
MGN (43%), and
Prisa (publisher of ''
El País'') (12%).
In April 1996, there was another refinancing, and in March 1998, O'Reilly bought the other shares of the company for £30 million, and assumed the company's debt. Brendan Hopkins headed Independent News,
Andrew Marr
Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Beginning his career as a political commentator, he subsequently edited '' The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC ...
was appointed editor of ''The Independent'', and
Rosie Boycott
Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott, Baroness Boycott (born 13 May 1951) is a British journalist and feminist.
Early life
The daughter of Major Charles Boycott and Betty Le Sueur Boycott, Rosel Marie "Rosie" Boycott was born in Saint Helier, Jersey. S ...
became editor of ''The Independent on Sunday''. Marr introduced a dramatic if short-lived redesign which won critical favour but was a commercial failure, partly as a result of a limited promotional budget. Marr admitted his changes had been a mistake in his book, ''My Trade''.
Boycott left in April 1998 to join the ''
Daily Express'', and Marr left in May 1998, later becoming the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's political editor.
Simon Kelner
Simon Kelner (born 9 December 1957) is a British journalist and newspaper editor.
Kelner studied at Bury Grammar School. His older brother is the journalist and broadcaster Martin Kelner. He is Jewish. He started work at ''Neath Guardian'' in ...
was appointed as the editor. By this time the circulation had fallen below 200,000. Independent News spent heavily to increase circulation, and the paper went through several redesigns. While circulation increased, it did not approach the level which had been achieved in 1989, or restore profitability. Job cuts and financial controls reduced the morale of journalists and the quality of the product.
2000–2009
Ivan Fallon, on the board since 1995 and formerly a key figure at ''The Sunday Times'', replaced Hopkins as head of Independent News & Media in July 2002. By mid-2004, the newspaper was losing £5 million per year. A gradual improvement meant that by 2006, circulation was at a nine-year high.
In November 2008, following further staff cuts, production was moved to Northcliffe House, in Kensington High Street, the headquarters of
Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
.
The two newspaper groups' editorial, management and commercial operations remained separate, but they shared services including security, information technology, switchboard and payroll.
2010–2016
On 25 March 2010, Independent News & Media sold the newspaper to a new company owned by the family of
Russian oligarch
Russian oligarchs ( Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Sovi ...
Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev ( rus, Александр Евгеньевич Лебедев, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲebʲɪdʲɪf; born 16 December 1959) is a Russian businessman, and has been referred to as one of t ...
for a nominal £1 fee and £9.25m over the next 10 months, choosing this option over closing ''The Independent'' and ''The Independent on Sunday'', which would have cost £28m and £40m respectively, due to long-term contracts. Alexander's son Evgeny became Chairman of the new company, with Alexander becoming a board director.
In 2009, Lebedev had bought a controlling stake in the ''
London Evening Standard''. Two weeks later, editor
Roger Alton
Roger Alton (born 20 December 1947 in Oxford) is an English journalist. He was formerly editor of ''The Independent'' and ''The Observer'', and executive editor of ''The Times''.
Early life and education
He was educated at Clifton College and ...
resigned.
In July 2011, ''The Independent''s columnist
Johann Hari was stripped of the
Orwell Prize
The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...
he had won in 2008 after claims, to which Hari later admitted, of plagiarism and inaccuracy. In January 2012,
Chris Blackhurst, editor of ''The Independent'', told the
Leveson inquiry that the scandal had "severely damaged" the newspaper's reputation. He nevertheless told the inquiry that Hari would return as a columnist in "four to five weeks". Hari later announced that he would not return to ''The Independent''.
Jonathan Foreman contrasted ''The Independent''s reaction to the scandal unfavourably with the reaction of American newspapers to similar incidents such as the
Jayson Blair
Jayson Thomas Blair (born March 23, 1976) is an American former journalist who worked for ''The New York Times''. He resigned from the newspaper in May 2003 in the wake of the discovery of fabrication and plagiarism in his stories.
Blair publi ...
case, which led to resignations of editors, "deep soul-searching", and "new standards of exactitude being imposed". The historian
Guy Walters
Guy Edward Barham Walters (born 8 August 1971) is a British author, historian, and journalist. He is the author and editor of nine books on the Second World War, including war thrillers, and a historical analysis of the Berlin Olympic Games.
...
suggested that Hari's fabrications had been an open secret amongst the newspaper's staff and that their internal inquiry was a "facesaving exercise". A proportion of articles are now behind a pay wall; that section is titled 'Independent Minds'.
''The Independent'' and ''The Independent on Sunday'' endorsed "Remain" in the
Brexit referendum of 2016.
From 2016
In March 2016 ''The Independent'' decided to close its print edition and become an
online newspaper; the last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016. ''The Independent on Sunday'' published its last print edition on 20 March 2016 and was closed following that.
Content
Format and design
''The Independent'' began publishing as a broadsheet, in a series of celebrated designs. The final version was designed by Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell following a commission by
Nicholas Garland who, along with
Alexander Chancellor
Alexander Surtees Chancellor, CBE (4 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was a British journalist.
Chancellor was educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was the editor of the conservative '' Spectator'' magazine from 1975 ...
, was unhappy with designs produced by Raymond Hawkey and Michael McGuiness – on seeing the proposed designs, Chancellor had said "I thought we were joining a serious paper". The first edition was designed and implemented by Michael Crozier, who was Executive Editor, Design and Picture, from pre-launch in 1986 to 1994.
From September 2003, the paper was produced in both broadsheet and tabloid-sized versions, with the same content in each. The tabloid edition was termed "compact" to distance itself from the more sensationalist reporting style usually associated with "tabloid" newspapers in the UK.
After launching in the London area and then in
North West England,
the smaller format appeared gradually throughout the UK. Soon afterwards, Rupert Murdoch's ''Times'' followed suit, introducing its own tabloid-sized version.
Prior to these changes, ''The Independent'' had a daily circulation of around 217,500, the lowest of any major national British daily, a figure that climbed by 15% as of March 2004 (to 250,000). Throughout much of 2006, circulation stagnated at a quarter of a million. On 14 May 2004, ''The Independent'' produced its last weekday broadsheet, having stopped producing a Saturday broadsheet edition in January. ''The Independent on Sunday'' published its last simultaneous broadsheet on 9 October 2005, and thereafter followed a compact design until the print edition was discontinued.
On 12 April 2005, ''The Independent'' redesigned its layout to a more European feel, similar to France's ''
Libération''. The redesign was carried out by a Barcelona-based design studio. The weekday second section was subsumed within the main paper, double-page feature articles became common in the main news sections, and there were revisions to the front and back covers.
A new second section, "Extra", was introduced on 25 April 2006. It is similar to ''The Guardian''s "G2" and ''The Times''s "Times2", containing features, reportage and games, including
sudoku
Sudoku (; ja, 数独, sūdoku, digit-single; originally called Number Place) is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the objective is to fill a 9 × 9 grid with digits so that each column, each row ...
. In June 2007, ''The Independent on Sunday'' consolidated its content into a news section which included sports and business, and a magazine focusing on life and culture. On 23 September 2008, the main newspaper became full-colour, and "Extra" was replaced by an "Independent Life Supplement" focusing on different themes each day.
Three weeks after the acquisition of the paper by
Alexander Lebedev
Alexander Yevgenievich Lebedev ( rus, Александр Евгеньевич Лебедев, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr jɪvˈɡʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈlʲebʲɪdʲɪf; born 16 December 1959) is a Russian businessman, and has been referred to as one of t ...
and
Evgeny Lebedev
Evgeny Alexandrovich Lebedev, Baron Lebedev ( rus, Евгений Александрович Лебедев, Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Lebedev, ; born 8 May 1980), is a Russian-British businessman, who owns Lebedev Holdings Ltd, which in turn own ...
in 2010, the paper was relaunched with another redesign on 20 April. The new format featured smaller headlines and a new pullout "Viewspaper" section, which contained the paper's comment and feature articles.
From 26 October 2010, the same day as its sister paper, ''i'', was launched, ''The Independent'' was printed on slightly thicker paper than before and ceased to be full-colour throughout, with many photographs and pictures (though none of those used in adverts) being printed in black and white only. On 11 October 2011, ''The Independent'' unveiled yet another new look, featuring a red, sans-serif masthead. In November 2013, the whole newspaper was overhauled again, including new custom fonts and a vertical masthead in black.
Front pages
Following the 2003 switch in format, ''The Independent'' became known for its unorthodox and campaigning front pages, which frequently relied on images, graphics or lists rather than traditional headlines and written news content. For example, following the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, it used its front page to urge its readers to donate to its appeal fund, and following the publication of the
Hutton Report into the death of British government scientist
David Kelly, its front page simply carried the word "Whitewash?"
In 2003, the paper's editor, Simon Kelner, was named "Editor of the Year" at the ''
What the Papers Say
''What The Papers Say'' is a British radio and television series. It consists of quotations from headlines and comment pages in the previous week's newspapers, read in a variety of voices and accents by actors. The quotes are linked by a scri ...
'' awards, partly in recognition of, according to the judges, his "often arresting and imaginative front-page designs".
In 2008, however, as he was stepping down as editor, he stated that it was possible to "overdo the formula" and that the style of the paper's front pages perhaps needed "reinvention".
Under the subsequent editorship of
Chris Blackhurst, the campaigning, poster-style front pages were scaled back in favour of more conventional news stories.
Sections
The weekday, Saturday and Sunday editions of ''The Independent'' all included supplements and pull-out subsections:
Online presence
On 23 January 2008, ''The Independent'' relaunched its online edition. The relaunched site introduced a new look, better access to the blog service, priority on image and video content, and additional areas of the site including art, architecture, fashion, gadgets and health. The paper launched
podcast programmes such as "The Independent Music Radio Show", "The Independent Travel Guides", "The Independent Sailing Podcasts", and "The Independent Video Travel Guides". Since 2009, the website has carried short video news bulletins provided by the
Al Jazeera English news channel.
In 2014, ''The Independent'' launched a sister website, ''i100'', a "shareable" journalism site with similarities to
Reddit and
Upworthy
Upworthy is a website dedicated to positive storytelling. It was started in March 2012 by Eli Pariser, the former executive director of MoveOn, and Peter Koechley, the former managing editor of ''The Onion''. One of Facebook's co-founders, Chris ...
.
Political views
The Independent is generally described as
centre to
centre-left,
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
and
liberal-left.
When the paper was established in 1986, the founders intended its political stance to reflect the centre of the British political spectrum and thought that it would attract readers primarily from ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' and ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
''. It has been seen as leaning to the left wing of the political spectrum, making it more a competitor to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. However, ''The Independent'' tends to take a
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
, pro-market stance on economic issues.
''The'' ''Independent on Sunday'' referred to itself as a "proudly liberal newspaper".
The paper has highlighted what it refers to as
war crimes being committed by pro-government forces in the
Darfur region of Sudan.
The paper has been a strong supporter of
electoral reform.
[ In 1997, ''The Independent on Sunday'' launched a campaign for the decriminalisation of cannabis. Ten years later, it reversed itself, arguing that skunk, the cannabis strain "smoked by the majority of young Britons" in 2007, had become "25 times stronger than resin sold a decade ago".]British monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiwi ...
has sometimes been described as republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, though it officially identifies as reformist, wishing for a reformed monarchy that "reflects the nation over which it reigns and which is accountable to the people for its activities". Originally, it avoided royal stories, Whittam Smith later saying he thought the British press was "unduly besotted" with the Royal Family and that a newspaper could "manage without" stories about the monarchy.Alan Rusbridger
Alan Charles Rusbridger (born 29 December 1953) is a British journalist, who was formerly editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' and then principal of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.
Rusbridger became editor-in-chief of ''The Guardian'' in 1995, havi ...
, editor of ''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". In a 12 June 2007 speech, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called ''The Independent'' a "viewspaper", saying it "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". ''The Independent'' criticised Blair's comments the following day but later changed format to include a "Viewspaper" insert in the centre of the regular newspaper, designed to feature most of the opinion columns and arts reviews.
A leader published on the day of the 2008 London mayoral election
The 2008 London mayoral election for the office of Mayor of London, England, was held on 1 May 2008. Conservative candidate Boris Johnson defeated incumbent Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone. It was the third London mayoral election, the previous e ...
compared the candidates and said that, if the newspaper had a vote, it would vote first for the Green Party candidate, Siân Berry
Siân Rebecca Berry (born 9 July 1974) is a British politician who served as Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales alongside Jonathan Bartley from 2018 to 2021, and as its sole leader from July to October 2021. From 2006 to 2007, s ...
, noting the similarity between her priorities and those of ''The Independent'', and secondly, with "rather heavy heart", for the incumbent, Ken Livingstone.Ipsos MORI
Ipsos MORI was the name of a market research company based in London, England which is now known as Ipsos and still continues as the UK arm of the global Ipsos group. It was formed by a merger of Ipsos UK and MORI in October 2005.
The company ...
poll estimated that in the 2010 general election, 44% of regular readers voted Liberal Democrat
Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties
See also
*Liberal democracy
*Lib ...
, 32% voted Labour, and 14% voted Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
, compared to 23%, 29%, and 36%, respectively, of the overall electorate. On the eve of the 2010 general election, ''The Independent'' supported the Liberal Democrats, arguing that
ey are longstanding and convincing champions of civil liberties, sound economics, international co-operation on the great global challenges and, of course, fundamental electoral reform. These are all principles that this newspaper has long held dear.
However, before the 2015 general election, ''The Independent on Sunday'' desisted from advising its readers how to vote, writing that "this does not mean that we are a bloodless, value-free news-sheet. We have always been committed to social justice", but the paper recognised that it was up the readers to "make up heirown mind about whether you agree with us or not". Rather than support a particular party, the paper urged all its reader to vote as "a responsibility of common citizenship". On 4 May 2015, the weekday version of ''The Independent'' said that a continuation of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition after the general election would be a positive outcome.
At the end of July 2018, ''The Independent'' led a campaign they called the "Final Say" – a change.org petition by editor Christian Broughton
Christian Broughton is a British journalist. He has been the managing director of ''The Independent'' since October 2020. Previously he was the editor of the newspaper between 2016 and 2020.
Career
Broughton was sports editor at ''The Indep ...
, for a binding referendum on the Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union.
Personnel
Editors
There have also been various guest editors over the years, such as Elton John on 1 December 2010, the Body Shop's Anita Roddick
Dame Anita Lucia Roddick (23 October 1942 – 10 September 2007) was a British businesswoman, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of the British version of The Body Shop, now The Body Shop Internationa ...
on 19 June 2003 and U2's Bono in 2006.
Writers and columnists
;Predominantly in ''The Independent'':
* Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
* Bruce Anderson
* Paul Arden
* Archie Bland
* Thom Brooks
* Andrew Brown (writer)
* Cooper Brown
* Michael Brown
* Simon Calder
* Ben Chu
* Alexa Chung
Alexa Chung (born 5 November 1983) is a British television presenter, model, internet personality, writer, and fashion designer. She wrote the book ''It'' (2013). Her fashion label Alexa Chung, stylized , launched in May 2017 and closed in 2022 ...
* Rob Cowan
Rob Cowan (born 14 April 1948) is an English music broadcaster and writer.
Employed by music publisher Boosey & Hawkes for nineteen years in various capacities, his first record review was published in 1967.
* Sloane Crosley
Sloane Crosley (born August 3, 1979) is an American writer living in New York City known for her humorous essays, including the collections '' I Was Told There'd Be Cake'', ''How Did You Get This Number'', and ''Look Alive Out There''. She has al ...
* Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin, CBE, RA (; born 3 July 1963) is a British artist known for her autobiographical and confessional artwork. Emin produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, neon text and ...
* Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...
* Mitch Feierstein
* Andrew Feinberg
* Helen Fielding
Helen Fielding (born 19 February 1958) is an English novelist and screenwriter, best known as the creator of the fictional character Bridget Jones, and a sequence of novels and films beginning with the life of a thirty something singleton in Lo ...
* Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stan ...
* Eric Garcia
* Chris Gulker
Christian Frederick "Chris" Gulker (March 10, 1951 – October 27, 2010) was an American photographer, programmer, writer, and pioneer in electronic publishing.
A " Silicon Valley pioneer," Gulker was "instrumental in introducing the digital pu ...
* Ian Hamilton
* Howard Jacobson
Howard Eric Jacobson (born 25 August 1942) is a British novelist and journalist. He is known for writing comic novels that often revolve around the dilemmas of British Jewish characters.Ragi, K. R., "Howard Jacobson's ''The Finkler Question'' as ...
* Alex James
* Peter Jenkins
* Owen Jones
Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984) is a British newspaper columnist, political commentator, journalist, author, and left-wing activist. He writes a column for ''The Guardian'' and contributes to the ''New Statesman'' and '' Tribune.'' He has two ...
* Andrew Keen
Andrew Keen (born c. 1960Saracevic, Alan T. (15 October 2006)Debate 2.0 / Weighing the merits of the new Webocracy.''San Francisco Chronicle'' ("Age: 46")) is a British-American entrepreneur and author. He is particularly known for his view tha ...
* Dominic Lawson
Dominic Ralph Campden Lawson (born 17 December 1956) is a British journalist.
Background
Lawson was born to a Jewish family, the elder son of Conservative politician Nigel Lawson and his first wife socialite Vanessa Salmon. Lawson was educated ...
* John Lichfield
* Philip Llewellin
* Laura Lyons
* Andy McSmith
Andy McSmith is a far-left freelance English journalist.
He was a journalist at ''The Independent'' newspaper from April 2007 to April 2016, having previously been political correspondent on the same paper, and political editor of the ''Independ ...
* Donald MacIntyre
* Serena Mackesy
* Tracey MacLeod
Tracey MacLeod (born 30 October 1960 in Ipswich, Suffolk) is an English journalist and broadcaster. She has presented arts and music programming, including '' The Late Show'' (1989–95) and its musical offshoots ''New West'' and ''Words and ...
* Rhodri Marsden
* Jan McGirk
* Deborah Orr
* Christina Patterson
Christina Mary Patterson (born 1963) is a British journalist. Now a freelancer, she was formerly a writer and columnist at ''The Independent.''
Biography
Patterson was born in Rome to a Swedish Lutheran mother and Scottish Presbyterian father wh ...
* Peter Popham
* Simon Read
* Steve Richards
Steve Richards (born 6 June 1960) is a British TV presenter and political columnist, who has written columns for the ''Guardian'', ''Independent'', ''New Statesman'' and '' Spectator''. He regularly presents Radio 4's '' Week in Westminster'' and ...
* Lizzie Dearden
* Ash Sarkar
Ashna Sarkar (born 1992) is a British journalist and libertarian communist political activist. She is a senior editor at Novara Media and teaches at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. Sarkar is a contributor to ''The Guardian'' and ''The I ...
* Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle (born 7 August 1952) is an English actor, author, stand-up comedian, television presenter and former recording artist. He was a leading figure in the British alternative comedy movement in the 1980s. He was voted the 18th gre ...
* Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...
* Mark Steel
Mark Steel (born 4 July 1960) is an English author, broadcaster, stand-up comedian and newspaper columnist. He has made many appearances on radio and television shows as a guest panellist, and has written regular columns in ''The Guardian'', ' ...
* Catherine Townsend
Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria.
In the early Christ ...
* Paul Vallely
Paul Vallely CMG is a British writer on religion, ethics, Africa and development issues. In his seminal 1990 book ''Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt'', he first coined the phrase that campaigners needed to move "from char ...
* Brian Viner
* Lynne Walker
* Andreas Whittam Smith
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith, (born 13 June 1937) is an English financial journalist, who was one of the founders of ''The Independent'' newspaper, which began publication in October 1986 with Whittam Smith as editor. He is a former president of th ...
* Claudia Winkleman
Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman (born 15 January 1972) is an English television presenter, radio personality, film critic and journalist. Between 2004 and 2010, she presented '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two'' on weeknights on BBC Two. Since ...
;Predominantly ''The Independent on Sunday'':
* Janet Street-Porter—Editor-at-Large
* Kate Bassett—Theatre
* Patrick Cockburn
Patrick Oliver Cockburn ( ; born 5 March 1950) is a journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent for the ''Financial Times'' since 1979 and, from 1990, ''The Independent''. He has also worked as a correspondent in Moscow and Washington ...
, John Rentoul, Joan Smith
Joan Alison Smith (born 27 August 1953) is an English journalist, novelist, and human rights activist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN and was the Executive Director of Ha ...
, Paul Vallely
Paul Vallely CMG is a British writer on religion, ethics, Africa and development issues. In his seminal 1990 book ''Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt'', he first coined the phrase that campaigners needed to move "from char ...
, and Alan Watkins
Alan Rhun Watkins (3 April 1933 – 8 May 2010) was for over 50 years a British political columnist in various London-based magazines and newspapers. He also wrote about wine and rugby.
Life and career
Alan Watkins was born in Tycroes, Carmar ...
—"Comment & Debate"
* Peter Cole—"On the Press"
* Rupert Cornwell—"Out of America"
* Hermione Eyre—Reviews
* Jenny Gilbert—Dance
* Christopher Hirst
Christopher Halliwell Hirst (born 27 May 1947) is a former English cricketer and educator. Hirst was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born in Odsal, Bradford, Yorkshire.
Hirst attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge. W ...
and Lucinda Rogers—"The Weasel" (weekly illustrated column 1995–2008)
* Dom Joly—"First Up" in The Sunday Review
* Tim Minogue and David Randall—"Observatory"
* Cole Moreton—"News Analysis" (Regular double-spread)
* Anna Picard—Opera and Classical
* Simon Price
Simon Price (born 25 September 1967) is a British music journalist and author. He is known for his weekly review section in ''The Independent on Sunday'' and his book ''Everything (A Book About Manic Street Preachers)''.
Career Writer
Pric ...
—Rock and Pop
Photographers
* Timothy Allen
*Craig Easton
Craig Easton (born 26 February 1979) is a Scottish football former player and coach. He began his playing career with Dundee United in 1996 and went on to play over 200 first team matches, before leaving the club in 2004. He subsequently played f ...
*Brian Harris
Longford Prize
''The Independent'' sponsors the Longford Prize, in memory of Lord Longford
Francis Aungier Pakenham, 7th Earl of Longford, 1st Baron Pakenham, Baron Pakenham of Cowley, (5 December 1905 – 3 August 2001), known to his family as Frank Longford and styled Lord Pakenham from 1945 to 1961, was a British politician and ...
.
Related publications
''The Independent on Sunday''
''The Independent on Sunday'' (''IoS'') was the Sunday sister newspaper of ''The Independent''. It ceased to exist in 2016, the last edition being published on 20 March; the daily paper ceasing print publication six days later.
The ''i''
In October 2010, the ''i'', a compact sister newspaper, was launched. The ''i'' is a separate newspaper but uses some of the same material. It was later sold to regional newspaper company Johnston Press, becoming that publisher's flagship national newspaper. The ''i''s online presence, ''i100'', was restyled as ''indy100'' and retained by Independent News & Media.
Indy100
The online news site indy100 was announced by ''The Independent'' in February 2016, to be written by journalists but with stories selected by 'upvotes' from readers. "Because indy100 is from The Independent you can still trust us to take our facts very seriously (even the funny ones). Some of the stories will have been inspired by the brilliant work in ''The Independent''. Most will be from the crack team of indy100 journalists."
''The (RED) Independent''
''The Independent'' supported U2 lead singer Bono's Product RED
Product Red, stylized as (PRODUCT) or (PRODUCT)RED, is a licensed brand by the company Red, stylized as (RED), that seeks to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds to help eliminate HIV/AIDS in eight African countries, namely E ...
brand by creating ''The (RED) Independent'', an occasional edition that gave half the day's proceeds to the charity. The first edition was in May 2006. Edited by Bono, it drew high sales.
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 in blackface for an article about AIDS in Africa.
Awards and nominations
''The Independent'' was awarded "National Newspaper of the Year" for 2003[ and the ''Independent on Sunday'' was awarded "Front Page of the Year" for 2014's "Here is the news, not the propaganda", printed on 5 October 2014.][
* "Business & Finance Journalist of the Year": Michael Harrison, 2000; Hamish McRae, 2005; Stephen Foley, 2008
* "Cartoonist of the Year": Dave Brown, 2012
* "Columnist of the Year": Robert Chalmers (''Independent on Sunday''), 2004; Mark Steel, 2014
* "Foreign Reporter of the Year": Patrick Cockburn, 2014
* "Interviewer of the Year": Mathew Norman, 2007; Deborah Ross, 2011
* "Political Journalist of the Year": Francis Elliott (''Independent on Sunday''), 2005
* "Specialist Journalist of the Year": Michael McCarthy, 2000; Jeremy Laurance, 2011
* "Sports Journalist of the Year": James Lawton, 2010
* "Young Journalist of the Year": Johann Hari, 2002; Ed Caesar, 2006
In January 2013, ''The Independent'' was nominated for the Responsible Media of the Year award at the ]British Muslim Awards
The British Muslim Awards are an annual award ceremony that honours the success and achievements of British Muslim individuals, groups and businesses. It was established in 2013.
Overview
The British Muslim Awards was founded by Oceanic Consult ...
.
In popular culture
''The Independent'' is regularly referenced in the Apple TV+
Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...
comedy ''Ted Lasso
''Ted Lasso'' is an American sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character of the same name that Sudeikis first portrayed in a series of promos for NB ...
'' as the employer of recurring character Trent Crimm (James Lance
James Frederick Grenville Lance (born 29 September 1974) is an English actor, best known for his appearances in a number of British comedy series and the British-American comedy series '' Ted Lasso'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime ...
), a skeptical reporter who is very critical of Ted's coaching but touched by his compassion.
See also
* ''Independent'' Foreign Fiction Prize
* Brett Straub incident
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Independent, The
1986 establishments in the United Kingdom
Centre-left newspapers
Centrist newspapers
Daily newspapers published in the United Kingdom
Liberal media in the United Kingdom
Newspapers established in 1986
National newspapers published in the United Kingdom
Newspapers published in London
Online newspapers with defunct print editions
Republicanism in the United Kingdom
Social liberalism