The Independent was launched in 1986 and is one of the youngest national daily newspapers in the UK. It was first published on 7 October 1986 as a broadsheet by Newspaper Publishing plc and was created by three former journalists of The Daily Telegraph, Andreas Whittam Smith, Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds.
Its main focus was to challenge The Guardian for centre left readers and The Times as a newspaper of record. It launched with the slogan “It is. Are you?” attracting staff from Murdoch owned broadsheets who preferred not to move to Wapping. It sparked a price war and caused a shake up with its new design style[1].
Today it is struggling to survive in the economic climate and a difficult time in general for newspapers with its ownership having changed hands to a company controlled by Alexander Lebedev and Evgeny Lebedev, the father and son team having previously bought a controlling stake in London’s Evening Standard[1].
The paper’s political stance was intended to reflect the centre of the British political spectrum but is now thought to be tending towards left wing ideals making it The Guardian’s main competitor. On the eve of the most recent general election however it made its stance clear, advising “There is a strong case for progressively minded voters to lend their support to the Liberal Democrats.”[1]
On The Independent website it claims its readers are mostly male with 57%, this is also the same percentage whom the paper believes are solus readers; people who only read The Independent[2]. It places its readers in the ABC1 category which is not surprising considering the news agenda and even the price of the paper. When compared to the Daily Star at about 30p, £1 actually seems like quite a lot to pay for a newspaper.
The audience can also be discerned from the advertising with large adverts for brands such as House of Fraser or Waitrose, the paper is placing itself firmly in the ABC1 bracket. A page advert in colour in The Independent in a specified position is £16,660[3] so companies like Currys must think it worthwhile to advertise in the paper even with its small readership.
The audience profiles also suggest that most of their readers are professionals as 59% are in full time employment with 50% with degree level or higher in their education. A large majority as well are from the London and South East area[2].
The newspaper’s agenda ranges from political prisoners to climate change and often focuses on the stories like this that it sees as more ‘worthy’. You will not find celebrity based gossip in The Independent although you are more likely to find it on the website.
The Independent has also recently launched the ‘I’ newspaper which runs in conjunction with The Independent as its cheaper and more disposable cousin. The editorial is mostly similar and in fact on some days the articles that appear in The Independent find their way into the ‘I’; it just strikes me as odd however that a paper that is struggling to stay afloat has introduced yet another rival, one that is cheaper and more cost effective.
Like all newspapers and especially the ‘qualities’, The Independent’s circulation is dropping rapidly with 183,547 copies in circulation daily. This is down by 10.88% on the previous year. With this in mind it is difficult to see whether the newspaper can survive in the current economic climate or will the populist tabloids soon be the only papers we have.
Sources:
[1] Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent
[2] The Independent Website http://www.independentonlinesolutions.com/advertisingGuide/media/indy.pdf
[3] The Independent Website http://www.independentonlinesolutions.com/advertisingGuide/cards.html
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